ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention
Poor Self-Rated Health in Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome but No Increased 10-Year Cardiovascular Risk: Results from a Swedish Population-Based Screening Program
Provisionally accepted
- 1Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- 2University Clinic Primary Care, Skåne University Hospital, Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden
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Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has been linked to poor health, high stress and diminished quality of life. Previous findings about associations between IBS and cardiovascular disease are, however, contradictory. Our objective was to examine 10-year cardiovascular risk, lifestyle factors, and self-rated health in people with IBS compared to a reference group. Methods: Sweden's southernmost county (Scania) has implemented targeted health dialogues (THDs) in primary health care for all 40-and 50-year-olds. Before the THD, participants completed a questionnaire about their health and lifestyle. Cholesterol, blood glucose, BMI and waist-hip-ratio were measured. Participants were also invited to a research project. The present study used baseline variables from 2021-2024 to examine the 10-year risk of cardiovascular events according to SCORE2, four health behaviors (diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol), and self-rated health in THD-participants with and without IBS. Analyses took into account sex, level of education and place of birth. Results: The study population comprised 8 899 (56.5%) THD participants of which 592 (6.7%) had a diagnosis of IBS. Participants with IBS did not show an increased 10-year cardiovascular risk after adjusting for confounders. However, men with IBS had higher mean diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.030), and women with IBS had higher mean waist-hip-ratio compared to the reference group (p = 0.013). There were no overall differences shown in physical activity, smoking, or diet between participants with/without IBS, but women with IBS consumed less alcohol (p = 0.026). Poor self-rated health was significantly more common in both women and men with IBS (p < 0.001). Conclusion: IBS was not associated with an increased 10-year cardiovascular risk in this population, but further research is needed, preferably subtype-specific. THDs and similar interventions may provide opportunities to identify needs for healthcare support in people with IBS suffering from poor self-rated health.
Keywords: cardiovascular risk, lifestyle factors, middle-aged individuals, Score2, self-rated health, Targeted healthdialogues
Received: 10 Sep 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Stenman, Bolmsjö, Nilholm, Grundberg and Sundquist. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emelie Stenman
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