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Published on: November 30, 2016
Decoding IBS: a machine learning approach to psychological distress and gut-brain interaction
Astri J Lundervold1, Julie E Billing2, Birgitte Berentsen3,4
1Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Universtity of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway. astri.lundervold@uib.no.
Psychological distress, including fatigue, anxiety, and sleep issues, is integral to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). This study identified distinct patient subgroups based on these distress factors, aiding personalized treatment for gut-brain interaction disorders.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology and Psychiatry
- Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI)
Background:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms and often co-occurs with psychological distress.
- Psychological distress in IBS encompasses fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and cognitive impairments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the combined role of psychological distress features in differentiating IBS patients from healthy controls (HCs).
- To identify distinct subgroups within IBS patients based on patterns of psychological distress.
Main Methods:
- IBS patients and HCs completed validated scales for fatigue, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
- Neuropsychological tests assessed memory and attention.
- Supervised (Random Forest) and unsupervised (K-means) machine learning models were employed.
Main Results:
- IBS patients reported significantly higher distress scores across all measures compared to HCs.
- Fatigue and sleep quality showed the strongest correlation.
- A Random Forest model accurately classified IBS patients with 80% accuracy, highlighting fatigue and anxiety as key predictors.
- Unsupervised clustering revealed three distinct IBS subgroups with varying degrees of cognitive impairment, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and fatigue.
Conclusions:
- Psychological distress is a core component of IBS symptomatology.
- The identified subgroups suggest potential for personalized assessment and treatment strategies for IBS and other DGBIs.
- Further longitudinal research is recommended to refine clinical patterns and interventions.
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