COMMENTARY

IBS and SSRIs

How do SSRIs help patients with irritable bowel syndrome?

F Creed

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor F Creed
University of Manchester, Rawnsley Building, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9 WL, UK; francis.creed@manchester.ac.uk

---

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants seem to promote global well being in some patients with irritable bowel syndrome and, possibly, some improvement in abdominal pain and bowel symptoms, but this effect appears to be independent of improved depression

---

Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; antidepressants; depression; somatisation

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the randomised controlled trial reported in this issue of Gut, Tack and colleagues¹ compared citalopram and placebo in 23 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) over a six week initial treatment period using a parallel group design (see page 1095). The dose of citalopram was similar to that used in the treatment of depressive disorders but any patients with depressive disorder were excluded from this trial. The results showed that citalopram was superior to placebo in terms of the primary outcome measure—days with abdominal pain—and this improvement was unrelated to change in mood, change in stool pattern, or the effect of intravenous citalopram on rectal distension thresholds.

Overall this was not a good trial. The total number of outcome measures exceeded the number of subjects in the trial. The crossover part of the trial was discounted because symptoms did not return to baseline . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

The role of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram in irritable bowel syndrome • Authors’ response

L A S van Kerkhoven, R J F Laheij, J B M J Jansen, Lukas Van Oudenhove, and Jan Tack
Gut 2007 56: 733. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Further evidence supporting a psychological component to irritable bowel syndrome • Authors’s reply

M Castle, G W Libby, Lukas Van Oudenhove, and Jan Tack
Gut 2007 56: 437-438. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

A controlled crossover study of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram in irritable bowel syndrome

J Tack, D Broekaert, B Fischler, L Van Oudenhove, A M Gevers, and J Janssens
Gut 2006 55: 1095-1103. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Erlangsen, A, Canudas-Romo, V, Conwell, Y (2008). Increased use of antidepressants and decreasing suicide rates: a population-based study using Danish register data. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 62: 448-454 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hayee, B., Forgacs, I. (2007). Psychological approach to managing irritable bowel syndrome. BMJ 334: 1105-1109 [Full Text]  
• van Kerkhoven, L A S, Laheij, R J F, Jansen, J B M J, Van Oudenhove, L., Tack, J. (2007). The role of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram in irritable bowel syndrome * Authors' response. Gut 56: 733-733 [Full Text]  
• Castle, M, Libby, G W, Van Oudenhove, L., Tack, J. (2007). Further evidence supporting a psychological component to irritable bowel syndrome * Authors's reply. Gut 56: 437-438 [Full Text]