Public release date: 15-Oct-2007

Impairment from chronic digestive problems amounts to 1 lost day per week

Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2007— Those who suffer from common functional gastrointestinal disorders face work productivity losses and impairments in daily activity that amount to the loss of at least one day of work in a 40-hour workweek, according to a new study presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology

In the analysis, Dr. Locke and colleagues found that patients with IBS-C, CC and FD reported greater work productivity loss and daily impairment over a six-month period than patients with GERD alone. The mean hours lost per week for the GERD patients were 6.3 compared to 10.3 hours per week for those with the other functional GI disorders. GERD patients also scored lower on a scale measuring impairment/productivity loss resulting from GI disorders than those patients with chronic functional GI problems, reflecting a greater burden of illness for conditions such as IBS with constipation, chronic constipation and chronic abdominal problems. According to Dr. Locke, “This research demonstrates the significant economic impact of these common conditions.”