Ju T, Naliboff B, Shih W, et al. - As irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a stress-sensitive disorder of brain-gut interactions associated with a higher prevalence of early adverse life events (EALs), researchers sought to determine the influence of trauma severity or disclosure on the risk of developing IBS or symptom severity. Using the Childhood Traumatic Events Scale, they assessed 197 IBS patients (72% women, mean age = 30.28 y) and 165 healthy controls (59% women, mean age = 30.77 y) for the severity of EALs and degree of confiding in others. They identified increased odds of IBS in correlation to reporting a greater number of EALs and higher perceived trauma severity. The odds of having IBS reduced with confiding in others. These findings emphasize assessing the traumatic severity of EALs and the amount of confiding in others and highlight the significance of early intervention to improve health outcomes in individuals with EALs.