Irritable bowel syndrome is common among working-age adults and is associated with impaired work productivity, yet symptoms fluctuate over time and little has been known about how changes in status relate to occupational and psychological functioning. A two-wave online survey conducted in Japan, with the first wave in 2023 and the second in 2024, has now tracked how workers’ IBS status changed over one year and how those trajectories aligned with measures of symptom severity, stress, mood and productivity.
The study involved 442 workers aged 20 to 49 years. Participants completed measures assessing IBS severity with the IBSSI, IBS-related cognitive factors with the CS-FBD and behavioral factors with the IBS-BRQ, depressive symptoms with the PHQ-9, anxiety symptoms with the GAD-7, somatic burden with the SSS-8, occupational stress factors, and work productivity with the WPAI-GH. IBS status was assessed using the Rome IV Diagnostic Questionnaire, and participants were classified into four trajectory groups: Consistent Non-IBS, Incident IBS, Resolved IBS and Consistent IBS.
The researchers conducted two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with group and time as factors, using a significance threshold of p less than 0.05. Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for the IBSSI and the SSS-8, indicating that changes in symptom severity and somatic burden over the year differed across the status trajectories.
The Consistent Non-IBS group showed the lowest symptom severity at both time points, and only the Resolved IBS group showed significant improvement between the two waves. This pattern suggests that among these workers, moving out of an IBS classification was the trajectory most clearly associated with reduced symptom severity, while those who remained free of IBS maintained the lowest levels throughout.
For occupational stress, supervisor support declined across all four groups over the year, whereas coworker support declined in all groups except for the Resolved IBS group. Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for supervisor support and coworker support, although the authors note that the observed effects were small.
Significant main effects of group were observed for the CS-FBD, IBS-BRQ, PHQ-9, GAD-7 and the WPAI-GH subscales, but not for work time missed. The Consistent Non-IBS group generally showed the lowest levels of impairment across these measures, meaning that cognitive and behavioral factors related to functional bowel disorders, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and self-reported productivity impairment were lowest among workers whose IBS status remained negative at both waves.
The authors conclude that IBS status trajectories did not uniformly correspond to broad psychosocial changes across measures. In other words, shifts in IBS classification over the year were reflected in some outcomes, such as symptom severity, somatic burden and social support at work, but not in a uniform pattern across the full range of psychological and occupational measures assessed.
Given the descriptive nature of the study and the small effect sizes, the findings should be considered descriptive, hypothesis-generating observations that remain to be confirmed through larger longitudinal studies. The authors also note that future studies incorporating the recently introduced Rome V criteria may help improve understanding of IBS transitions and provide a foundation for exploring potential workplace support strategies.
Subject of Research: A two-wave study of occupational and psychological characteristics across irritable bowel syndrome status trajectories in Japanese workers
Article Title: Occupational and psychological characteristics across IBS status trajectories: a two-wave study of Japanese workers
Article References: Sugaya, N., Izawa, S., & Sasaki, T. (2026). Occupational and psychological characteristics across IBS status trajectories: a two-wave study of Japanese workers. BioPsychoSocial Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-026-00376-w
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s13030-026-00376-w
Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome, occupational health, psychological symptoms, work productivity, Rome IV criteria, longitudinal study, Japanese workers, occupational stress, social support, functional bowel disorders, Occupational, psychological
News Source: Glenn Wilkins. (November 5, 2026). IBS status shifts over one year track small changes in Japanese workers’ stress and support. Scienmag.
