PM2068: Standardized Yoga & Meditation Program for Stress Reduction for Adolescents with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background: IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, is the most common cause of general recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children. This discomfort often significantly impacts the patient’s life, leading to emotional stress, decreased quality of life due to necessary changes in daily living to accommodate bathroom patterns, as well as anxiety and depression. Since IBS is often accompanied by anxiety, along with other psychological and quality of life issues, we are proposing that practicing yoga and mindfulness will decrease anxiety and increase quality of life for patients with IBS. To measure the impact of a brief, at-home, 6-week twice per week Standardized Yoga & Meditation Program for Stress Reduction (SYMPro-SR) program on anxiety, IBS symptoms, and quality of life in children ages 12-21 years old diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Methods: Children ages 12-21 who suffered from IBS filled out the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders to measure anxiety, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory questionnaires to measure quality of life and Children Somatic Symptoms Inventory before and after an online, 6- week yoga course. Results of the questionnaires total scores and sub-scales were analyzed as continuous variables using paired t-tests or the Wilcoxon signed rank tests for the pre-post results and ANCOVA for repeated measures incorporating age, sex, baseline scores, etc. as covariates. Comparisons within the group were done using Student paired t-test for continuous data. The difference was considered significant at p0.05.

Results: In this pilot study, 40 subjects were approached and 8 completed the videos. There were 4 females (50%), 6 white subjects (80%), 1 asian subject (10%) and 1 black subject (10%). There were 4 subjects with IBS constipation (50%) and 4 subjects with IBS mixed-type (50%). Pre and post test results showed significant improvement in Pediatric Quality of Life post intervention (p = 0.01). The SCARED test was subdivided into six sections. The SCARED anxiety test significantly decreased post intervention (p = 0.01). There was a trend for improved outcomes in SCARED panic disorder and separation anxiety post intervention (p = 0.07 and 0.08 respectively). There was a post intervention improvement in a number of variables in the CSSI scale. Four of the 24 symptoms in the CSSI significantly improved post intervention.

Conclusion: Teenagers with IBS were able to complete yoga videos at home, which showed improvement in quality of life, certain aspects of anxiety and a few somatic symptoms.