Brain-gut behavioral treatments can effectively relieve abdominal pain in people affected by irritable bowel syndrome.
Brain-gut behavioral treatments (BGBTs) have shown promise for addressing global symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Hence, this systematic review and network meta-analysis aimed to investigate these therapies for their impact on persistent abdominal pain in IBS and revealed various efficacious therapies.
Investigators searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the usefulness of BGBTs in adults with IBS. They focused on trials assessing abdominal pain resolution or improvement at the end of treatment. The study authors conducted intention-to-treat analyses, treating dropouts as treatment failures. Pooled relative risks (RRs) for lack of abdominal pain improvement were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and therapies were ranked by P score.
The review identified 42 eligible RCTs involving 5,220 participants. The most effective BGBTs for alleviating abdominal pain included:
Considering trials that focused on individuals suffering from refractory IBS symptoms, group CBT outperformed conventional care for stomach discomfort. However, no other vital differences were found among the therapies. All trials showed some risk of bias. To sum up, numerous BGBTs, encompassing self-guided/minimal contact CBT, face-to-face multicomponent therapy, and gut-directed hypnotherapy, illustrated efficacy in reducing abdominal ache in IBS, though none of the treatments proved to be distinctly superior.
Gastroenterology
Effect of Brain-Gut Behavioral Treatments on Abdominal Pain in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Vivek C. Goodoory et al.
Comments (0)