Why Your Gut Hasn’t Been Same Since COVID

Using consistent diagnostic tools to compare pre- and post-pandemic populations, researchers found that these conditions are now significantly more common—especially among people with long COVID, who also report higher levels of anxiety and depression, the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology reported.

A recent global study has identified a notable increase in gut-brain interaction disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia, following the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings were published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

To explore this trend, researchers expanded on earlier work by applying Rome Foundation diagnostic criteria to nationally representative data sets collected in both 2017 and 2023. This approach provided the first direct, population-wide comparison of gut-brain disorder rates before and after the pandemic.

Overall disorders of gut-brain interaction rose from 38.3% to 42.6%.

IBS jumped 28%, from 4.7% to 6%.

Functional dyspepsia rose by nearly 44%, from 8.3% to 11.9%.

Individuals with long COVID were significantly more likely to have a disorder of gut-brain interaction and reported worse anxiety, depression, and quality of life.

This is the first population-level study to directly compare rates of disorders affecting gut-brain interaction before and after the pandemic, using a consistent methodology. It adds weight to growing calls for updated care models and more research into the gut-brain axis in the post-COVID era.

Functional dyspepsia is a common digestive disorder that causes chronic upper abdominal discomfort or pain without an identifiable medical cause. Symptoms often include bloating, early fullness during meals, nausea, and burning or aching in the stomach area. Unlike ulcers or reflux disease, functional dyspepsia doesn’t show visible signs of damage in the digestive tract during medical exams.

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