Personality, Anxiety, and Stress in Patients with Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome. The Polish Preliminary Study

Joanna Kossewska; Karolina Bierlit; Vladimir Trajkovski

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010093

Personality, Anxiety, and Stress in Patients with Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome. The Polish Preliminary Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 21;20(1):93. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010093.

Authors

Joanna Kossewska¹, Karolina Bierlit², Vladimir Trajkovski³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Special Education, School Education and Teachers Education, Pedagogical University of Krakow, 30-084 Kraków, Poland.
² Student Scientific Club of Supporting People with Autism, Pedagogical University of Krakow, 30-084 Kraków, Poland.
³ Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism, Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril & Methodius University in Skopje, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia.

Abstract

Objective: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) syndrome is associated with depression and anxiety. This study aimed to examine for the first time the correlation between personality traits, situational anxiety, and stress in Polish patients with SIBO.

Methodology: This study included 26 patients with SIBO aged 20-35 years and 24 non-SIBO patients aged 20-35 years. The following instruments were used: NEO-FFI Personality Inventory, KPS Sense of Stress Questionnaire, and the anxiety-state subscale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

Results: Compared to the non-SIBO subgroup, SIBO patients expressed specific patterns of personality traits: higher neuroticism, lower extroversion, and a higher state of anxiety and stress. Unlike the non-SIBO subgroup, stress (total emotional tension, external, and intrapsychic) correlated negatively only with extroversion.

Conclusions: Personality is the primary regulator of experience and behavior. The specificity captured in the research is a premise for an in-depth study considering various psychological variables to determine cause-effect relationships.

Keywords: IBS; SIBO; anxiety; personality traits; stress.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anxiety* / epidemiology
Blind Loop Syndrome* / complications
Breath Tests
Humans
Intestine, Small
Personality
Poland / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding however the publishing charge was carried out by the Pedagogical University of Krakow.