Epidemiology of irritable bowel syndrome in the former communist countries from Eastern Europe: a systematic review

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder frequently encountered in clinical practice in Eastern Europe. Epidemiological data are diverging on this condition. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of IBS in the former communist countries from Eastern Europe (EE). METHODS: We performed a systematic review study using data from PubMed. Many languages, some having only local spreading, are spoken in EE, so we decided to look only for papers indexed in PubMed, which have at least an English summary or title. We searched PubMed using the following keywords: irritable bowel syndrome, functional digestive disorders, prevalence, EE. Only relevant studies were selected for analysis. RESULTS: From more than 4000 papers retrieved by this search, we identified a few papers appropriate to this survey. The spectrum of prevalence values is wide in IBS. Prevalence of IBS varies in different studies from 28% in a Croatian study, to 14% in Romania. Most studies report a higher prevalence in females. Stressful events are linked to the impairment of symptoms. Anxiety and depression are common in IBS patients, showing similar expression of functional symptoms. Quality of life is impaired. The role of abuse (physical, sexual) is not commonly investigated and when it was, the importance of this factor was revealed to be much less important than in Western Europe or North America. General practitioners seem to be well trained to recognize IBS, to make correct interpretations of the disease and to use the correct therapy. It seems that the Rome criteria are known and applied by general practitioners. Several epidemiological studies on IBS exist in most EE countries. Usually they look for self-reporting symptoms, or reports from endoscopy units. Psychosomatic approach of IBS was taken into consideration in several countries (Poland, Hungary, Romania), mainly by psychologists and psychotherapists rather than by gastroenterologists. CONCLUSIONS: There are few epidemiological studies on the epidemiology of IBS in EE. The majority of studies used Rome criteria. Several studies used small groups of patients. Some of the smaller studies have methodological flaws. The effect of stress and psychological factors are often investigated and analyzed with different methods of different accuracy. Some doctors used knowledge gained in EE in order to disseminate or to investigate further in more economically developed countries with a higher level of health.