Burden of irritable bowel syndrome in an increasingly cost-aware National Health Service
Open accessAbstract
Background: The National Health Service (NHS) is faced with increasing cost pressures that make the efficient use of resources paramount. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) places a large burden on the NHS as it has been estimated that at least 12% of the UK population is affected. However, poor clinical coding makes accurate assessment of this burden challenging. Objective: To calculate primary-care prescribing and both hospital outpatient and admission costs associated with the management of IBS in England. Design and main outcome measures: Hospital Episode Statistics data for 2012–2013 for all clinical commissioning groups in England were analysed to calculate the tariff cost of IBS. Prescribing analysis and cost tabulation (PACT) data for this period were also analysed. Results: In 2012–2013, there were 1 219 961 outpatient attendances in gastroenterology and colorectal surgery specialties. Despite this, only 1982 patients were recorded with IBS-specific codes, with a total estimated tariff cost of £812 336. In addition, 28 849 patients were recorded with IBS-related symptom codes at a cost of £11 002 874. In 2011–2012, there were 658 698 diagnostic lower gastrointestinal endoscopies at a tariff cost of £16 967 670 4. Of these, 323 752 (49%) had no further follow-up in secondary care over the subsequent 12 months. PACT data indicated that £44 977 959 and £25 582 752, respectively, were spent on selected laxatives and antispasmodics commonly used to treat IBS in primary care. Conclusions: Better diagnosing, through improved clinical coding and standardisation of diagnostic criteria, is required to more accurately assess the true burden and allow optimal management of IBS.
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Lower gastrointestinal symptoms frequently prompt people to present to primary care, accounting for approximately 1 in 12 of all consultations.
“Nevertheless, lower gastrointestinal symptoms frequently prompt people to present to primary care, 81 accounting for approximately 1 in 12 of all consultations.82”
From British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of irritable bowel syndrome (2021) · cites this paper as [81]
Citation 82 is attached to the estimate that lower gastrointestinal symptoms account for approximately 1 in 12 primary-care consultations. The Discussion instead reports that IBS or IBS-related symptoms account for approximately 7.5% of outpatient attendances across all specialties; the Introduction describes a primary-care burden but gives no proportion of all primary-care consultations. Searches for the one-in-twelve estimate and a primary-care consultation percentage found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.75)
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British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of irritable bowel syndrome
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- Authors
- Soubieres, A., Wilson, P., Poullis, A., Wilkins, J., & Rance, M.
- Affiliations
- St George's Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK
- St George's Hospital (GB)
- Harvey Walsh Ltd, Runcorn, UK
- Almirall UK, Uxbridge, UK
- ORCID
- Poullis, Andrew
- Venue
- Frontline Gastroenterology
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2015-02-24
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 246-251
- ISSN
- 2041-4137 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-4145
- PMC
- PMC5369587
- OpenAlex
- W2116726590
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Frontline Gastroenterology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Chronic Disease Management Strategies
- Keywords
- irritable bowel syndrome, health care costs, National Health Service, medical coding, primary care prescribing, hospitalization, laxatives, antispasmodic agents, lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, diagnostic follow-up
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