ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
This article is part of the Research TopicBeyond Gastrointestinal Symptoms: Psychosocial Implications of Disorders of Gut-Brain InteractionView all 3 articles
Sensory Processing Sensitivity Levels in Patients with Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction: A Propensity Score-Matched cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- 2People's Liberation Army General Hospital of Southern Theatre Command, Guangzhou, China
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Abstract Background: Although sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) has been extensively studied in the context of psychological health, its potential association with Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI) remains poorly understood. Objective: This study applied the Chinese version of the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) Scale to assess Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) levels and the prevalence of Highly Sensitive Persons (HSP) in a DGBI cohort. Using propensity score matching (PSM), it aimed to compare these metrics between DGBI patients and healthy controls, and to evaluate the discriminative capacity of SPS for DGBI. Additionally, SPS and HSP distribution were compared across DGBI subgroups categorized by upper versus lower gastrointestinal symptom predominance. Methods: SPS levels were assessed using the validated Chinese Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS-C). Covariate balance was achieved through 1:1 PSM. Intergroup disparities were examined using independent samples *t*-tests and χ² analyses, supplemented by binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Post-PSM analysis (254 matched pairs) revealed significantly higher total SPS scores in the DGBI group versus controls (p< 0.001), with a substantially greater HSP prevalence (42.5% vs. 17.3%; p< 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed no statistically significant differences in SPS levels or HSP distribution between patients with upper and lower gastrointestinal DGBI (p> 0.05). Ease of Excitation (EOE; OR = 1.403, 95% CI: 1.110–1.773) and Depth of Processing (DOP; OR = 1.315, 95% CI: 1.044–1.657) emerged as independent DGBI risk factors. ROC analysis demonstrated moderate discriminative capacity for DGBI identification (AUC = 0.705, 95% CI: 0.660–0.750). Conclusion: Elevated SPS levels are significantly associated with DGBI. However, subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences in SPS levels or HSP distribution between patients with upper and lower gastrointestinal DGBI. Early identification of HSP characteristics may nevertheless facilitate personalized interventions, supporting the integration of SPS assessment into DGBI diagnostic and
Keywords: Discriminative capacity, Disorders ofGut-Brain Interaction, Highly sensitive persons, Propensity score matching, Sensory processing sensitivity
Received: 28 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Peng, Sun and Zhang. 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: Yijun Zhang
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