Primary healthcare utilisation and self-rated health among patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: What are the impacts of comorbidities, gastrointestinal symptom burden, sense of coherence and stress?

•We found a unique association between many PHC contacts and sleep disorders among IBS patients that was not seen in other primary-care patients.•Number of comorbidities in general and sleep disorders in particular were the factors most strongly associated with many PHC contacts among IBS patients.•Fewer episodes of abdominal pain, increased coping ability and younger age were the most important factors for better self-rated health in both IBS and non-IBS patients.•Number of comorbidities was not a predictor of reported good health in either IBS or the reference group of non-IBS patients.