Background: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), is the most common cause of general recurrent
abdominal pain (RAP) in children. IBS is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is
linked to motor and sensory physiology, as well as the central nervous system, that
presents as abdominal pain with abnormal defecation patterns. 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, it will be evaluated whether practicing
yoga and mindfulness will decrease anxiety and increase quality of life for patients with
IBS
Objective: 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: This is a pilot, IRB approved, prospective study. Children ages 12-21 who suffer
from any of the four types of Irritable Bowel Syndromes will be identified. Each subject
will be asked to fill out the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, Children
Somatic Symptoms Inventory and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory questionnaires before
and after an online, 6- week yoga course. Anxiety will be measured using the Screen for
Child Anxiety Related Disorders and quality of life will be measured using Pediatric
Quality of Life Inventory and Children Somatic Symptoms Inventory tests. Results of the
questionnaires total scores and sub-scales will be 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 will be done using Student paired t-test for continuous
data. The difference will be considered significant at p<0.05.
