Abstracts

Background

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional bowel disorder with a worldwide prevalence estimated between 10-20%. It has a significant impact on quality of life and societal expense. While there are pharmaceutical options available, few can be reliably recommended. Many IBS sufferers turn to complementary and alternative medicine including naturopathy. Naturopathic approaches to IBS are poorly studied to date.

Methods

We aim to describe naturopathic approaches to IBS as well as establish pilot data on before and after changes in validated IBS instruments. The study will employ a multi-centered, international, prospective, observational, naturalistic design. The uncontrolled before-and-after study will examine the outcomes associated with individualised, whole system naturopathic care as determined by each provider. We will recruit adult patients diagnosed with IBS and presenting to a participating naturopathic academic teaching clinic. Participants’ IBS symptoms will be measured using validated instruments (IBS-SSS and IBS-AR). Quality of life will be measured by the PROMIS - 29. Adverse events will be tracked, as will treatment descriptions. Our primary outcomes will be before and after differences using week 12 as the primary endpoint. P values will be set at 0.05 and descriptive and summary data will be presented.

Discussion

This study is designed to plug significant evidence gaps and to gather preliminary evidence to guide the design of a follow-up randomized active controlled trial.

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