Constructive thinking, rational intelligence and irritable bowel syndrome

Table 1 Comparison of intelligence, personality, and life events between controls and IBS subjects

	Healthy subjects (n = 94)	IBS subjects (n = 94)
Rational intelligence (WAIS-III)
Total IQ	102.8 ± 12.6	102.0 ± 10.8
Verbal IQ	103.4 ± 11.6	102.6 ± 10.7
Performance IQ	102.4 ± 14.2	101.6 ± 11.6
Experiential intelligence (CTI)
Global CTI score	49.6 ± 9.7	43.7 ± 9.4b
Personality traits (NEO-PI)
Neuroticism	55.0 ± 10.6	60.9 ± 8.7b
Extroversion	44.6 ± 11.0	45.4 ± 10.9
Openness	49.6 ± 12.6	50.6 ± 12.2
Agreeableness	45.3 ± 7.9	44.1 ± 9.0
Consciousness	37.8 ± 9.0	35.9 ± 8.2
Psychopathology (MMPI-2)
1-Hypochondriasis	49.6 ± 9.2	62.2 ± 12.1b
2-Depression	48.7 ± 9.6	52.9 ± 10.9a
3-Hysteria	52.2 ± 9.6	60.5 ± 11.5b
4-Psychopathic deviate	49.8 ± 9.2	54.8 ± 11.0b
5-Masculinity-femininity	52.2 ± 10.6	50.3 ± 10.0
6-Paranoia	48.2 ± 8.2	52.3 ± 9.2a
7-Psychasthenia	46.8 ± 8.7	51.7 ± 8.3b
8-Schizophrenia	47.0 ± 8.1	51.5 ± 10.0b
9-Hypomania	49.1 ± 9.7	52.3 ± 10.3a
0-Social introversion	47.4 ± 8.9	48.6 ± 8.3
Anxiety (STAI)
State anxiety	33.4 ± 8.8	40.5 ± 11.4b
Trait anxiety	37.1 ± 9.2	43.7 ± 10.8b
Stressful life events (SRRS)
Number in prior 12 mo	8.5 ± 5.1	9.9 ± 4.8a
Total emotional impact	445.1 ± 280.4	521.9 ± 252.5a

IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome.

^aP < 0.05 (ANOVA),

^bP < 0.001 (ANOVA) vs controls.

Table 2 Regression models to evaluate the association of Global CTI and IQ with suffering IBS

	Model 1	Full model
Global CTI score	0.93 (0.90-0.97)d	0.92 (0.87-0.97)b
Total IQ	0.99 (0.96-1.03)	0.99 (0.97-1.04)
Stressful life events (SRRS)		1.05 (0.97-1.15)
State anxiety		1.05 (0.99-1.10)
1-Hypochondriasis		1.19 (1.11-1.27)d
2-Depression		0.95 (0.90-1.00)
3-Hysteria		0.96 (0.90-1.02)
4-Psychopathic deviate		1.02 (0.96-1.08)
6-Paranoia		1.04 (0.99-1.10)
7-Psychasthenia		1.01 (0.93-1.09)
8-Schizophrenia		0.93 (0.85-1.01)
9-Hypomania		1.02 (0.97-1.07)

Adjusted by age, sex and educational level.

^bP < 0.01 (ANOVA);

^dP < 0.001 (ANOVA). Hosmer and lemeshow goodness-of-fit test for the full model: P = 0.16. CTI: Constructive Thinking Inventory.

Table 3 Comparison of intelligence, personality, and life events between IBS consulters and non-consulters

	IBS non-consulters (n = 49)	IBS consulters (n = 49)
Rational intelligence (WAIS-III)
Total IQ	103.8 ± 11.2	99.3 ± 10.5a
Verbal IQ	104.4 ± 11.0	100.1 ± 10.4a
Performance IQ	103.0 ± 11.7	99.1 ± 11.6
Experiential intelligence (CTI)
Global CT score	46.6 ± 9.2	41.1 ± 9.0d
Personality traits (NEO-PI)
Neuroticism	59.7 ± 7.5	62.1 ± 9.6
Extroversion	46.6 ± 11.5	43.3 ± 10.2
Openness	52.5 ± 11.0	48.6 ± 13.0
Agreeableness	45.5 ± 8.4	42.7 ± 9.2
Consciousness	35.9 ± 7.4	35.7 ± 8.9
Psychopathology (MMPI-2)
1-Hypochondriasis	60.1 ± 12.0	64.6 ± 11.8
2-Depression	50.4 ± 9.8	55.8 ± 11.2a
3-Hysteria	58.6 ± 12.3	62.7 ± 10.5
4-Psychopathic deviate	52.5 ± 9.7	57.3 ± 11.9a
5-Masculinity-femininity	49.2 ± 11.2	50.9 ± 8.4
6-Paranoia	51.4 ± 9.5	53.1 ± 8.8
7-Psychasthenia	49.8 ± 8.4	54.1 ± 8.0a
8-Schizophrenia	50.5 ± 9.3	52.9 ± 10.4
9-Hypomania	51.7 ± 9.1	52.6 ± 11.3
0-Social Introversion	47.9 ± 8.5	49.4 ± 8.0
Anxiety (STAI)
State anxiety	37.2 ± 10.0	43.6 ± 11.6a
Trait anxiety	41.4 ± 9.5	45.8 ± 11.4a
Stressful life events (SRRS)
Number in prior 12 mo	10.3 ± 5.3	9.5 ± 4.4
Total emotional impact	539.2 ± 274.4	500.8 ± 233.3

^aP < 0.05 (ANOVA), ^bP < 0.001 (ANOVA) vs non-consulters.

Table 4 Results of stepwise multiple linear regressions to predict number of physician visits among IBS consulters

Dimension	Variables entered in the model	Standardized coefficient (β)	Model
Step 1	1-Current pain (VAS)	-0.38b	r2 = 0.13d
Step 2	1-Current pain (VAS)	-0.39b	r2 = 0.22d
	2-Age	-0.33a

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01;

^dP < 0.001.