Rani Marhaba, BS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: There is an increase in gastrointestinal (GI) distress incidences among young adults. According to a 2020 study, one-third of their student cohort aged between 18-25 experienced at least one severe GI symptom. It is commonly understood that those who wake up from their GI symptoms are more likely to exhibit a pathologic gastrointestinal disease. Symptoms to look for GI illness include heartburn/reflux, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea/vomiting. College students are also known to lead an unhealthy lifestyle from a poor diet to substance use. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look into the different lifestyle factors that are associated with GI distress, particularly those who exhibit sleep disturbances as this can be a red flag pointing towards pathological disease.
Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed on social media platforms targeting US college students. Inclusion criteria were college students between the age of 18-25. Demographic questions included gender, age, academic class, and race. Lifestyle factors questions assessed diet and sleep quality, exercise level , social life and substance use. GI pertaining questions assessed whether respondents suffer from GI distress and types. Data was analyzed using a data mining technique, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), to identify patterns. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett sphericity tests were performed to verify that the data was suitable for PCA analysis. The scree plot was used to identify the number of components with the highest variance. All data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0
Results: A total of 912 respondents completed the survey. KMO value r = 0.635, with significance < 0.001. Four different components were identified: Substance use and waking up at night from symptoms ( accounting for 10.352% of the variance) , probiotic/antibiotic use and GI symptoms (accounting for 9.994% of the variance), Unhealthy diet and sleep disturbances (accounting for 8.663% of the variance), and eating and stress (accounting for 7.997% of the variance).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates a statistically significant relationship among various lifestyle factors, including diet and psychosocial associations. This prompts the need for more research to learn more about this increasing prevalence of GI distress among young adults.
