The Relationship Between Trauma Exposure, PTSD Symptoms, and Gastrointestinal Symptoms

Extant literature has linked gastrointestinal distress and trauma exposure in clinical populations. This is especially salient for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and physical and sexual assault.

The present study of a sample of 1,432 students from a large public Midwestern university further investigates the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and trauma exposure. Specifically, broad categories of trauma exposure, disorders of gut-brain interaction (i.e., IBS and functional dyspepsia), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were examined.

Trauma exposure and specific trauma characteristics (i.e., interpersonal trauma history, number of unique trauma types) were significantly associated with higher gastrointestinal symptoms. Likewise, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptom severity, probable PTSD, and cluster E symptom severity were also significantly related to higher gastrointestinal symptoms. Gender and race were significantly related to gastrointestinal symptoms in participants with trauma histories. Specifically, females reported greater gastrointestinal symptoms than males and White participants reported higher gastrointestinal symptoms than Black participants. In participants with probable PTSD, race remained significantly associated with gastrointestinal symptoms while gender was significant for functional dyspepsia symptoms only. Black participants reported greater gastrointestinal symptoms than White participants and females reported greater functional dyspepsia symptoms than males.

Findings shed light on factors associated with differential experiences of gastrointestinal symptoms. Additionally, this study is the first to examine the experiences of functional dyspepsia in people with probable PTSD. Future research on disorders of gut-brain interaction and trauma should not continue to overlook functional dyspepsia.