Clinical research · Singapore
We're studying whether EBI can ease DGBI symptoms.
A clinical study with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Woodlands Health, in the months patients wait for specialist care. Scroll through the story: what DGBI is, the problem we see, and what we're testing.
In partnership with
What is DGBI?
When the gut and brainstop talking smoothly.
A two-way conversation.
The brain and gut talk constantly, in both directions, along the vagus nerve and other pathways.
Everyday life feeds in.
Stress, sleep and food all shape that conversation. That is why symptoms rise and fall with everyday life.
In DGBI, the conversation goes wrong.
Disorders of gut–brain interaction happen when the gut and brain stop communicating smoothly. The gut can become more sensitive, and its rhythm can change. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia are two common examples.
The symptoms are real.
Pain, bloating and changed bowel habits are real and persistent, even when standard tests come back normal.
The problem we're seeing
Weeks of symptoms,minutes to explain them.
DGBI symptoms rise and fall with stress, sleep and food. Yet care happens in snapshots. Patients wait for a specialist with little support in between, and by the appointment, weeks of symptoms are squeezed into a few minutes of recall.
adults in Singapore met the criteria for IBS in a community survey.2
was the median wait in 2024 for subsidised patients referred from primary care to a first public-hospital specialist appointment.3
is enough for memory to inflate symptoms: people with IBS rate a day as worse at its end than they reported during it.4
Why we're running this study
Support in the gap,a clearer picture after it.
A companion for the months of waiting.
EBI lives on the patient's phone: two-minute check-ins on symptoms, mood, sleep and stress, a journal for putting feelings into words, and optional supportive conversations. Before the appointment, the weeks become one structured summary for the specialist.
Writing helps on its own.
Naming feelings calms the brain's stress response, and expressive writing has eased IBS symptoms in early studies.5,6,7
Patterns become visible.
Short daily check-ins on sleep, stress and food show what moves symptoms, week by week.
The specialist starts with context.
A structured summary replaces recall, so the first appointment starts from what actually happened.
Can regular digital support ease symptoms while people wait for specialist care?
How we're running it
Careful by design,open about results.
Two hospital partners
Run with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Woodlands Health, under formal ethics oversight.
About two minutes a day
Short check-ins on mood, sleep and stress on the participant's own phone, with optional supportive conversations.
Private by design
Stored in Singapore under the PDPA, de-identified for analysis, never sold and never used to train AI models.
Every result reported
Findings will be reported whether they are positive, negative or inconclusive.
References
- Sperber AD et al. Worldwide prevalence and burden of functional gastrointestinal disorders: results of the Rome Foundation Global Study. Gastroenterology, 2021.
- Gwee KA et al. The prevalence, symptom characteristics, and impact of irritable bowel syndrome in an Asian urban community. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2004.
- Ministry of Health, Singapore. Wait time for primary care referral to public hospital specialist outpatient clinics. Parliamentary reply, 28 February 2025.
- Bosman M et al. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome report higher symptom burden using end-of-day vs real-time assessment. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2024.
- Lieberman MD et al. Putting feelings into words: affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 2007.
- Halpert A et al. Expressive writing is a promising therapeutic modality for the management of IBS: a pilot study. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2010.
- Laird KT, Stanton AL. Written expressive disclosure in adults with irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2021.
Seeing the same gap in your patients?
If you care for patients whose condition shifts with everyday life between visits, we'd like to hear from you.