Irritable Bowel Syndrome in a Population of a Developing Country: Prevalence and Association

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is included as one of the functional gastrointestinal (GI) related disorders presenting with pain in abdomen of chronic duration in the absence of any identifiable organic cause. Bloating, distension of abdomen, and defecation in disordered manner are other features commonly associated with IBS. It is a complex disorder with mixed physiological, psychological, and social interactions. The present study was carried out with the aim to determine the frequency of IBS in patients presenting with abdominal pain in a population of a developing country. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken at the outpatient department of a large tertiary care hospital. Patients of either gender aged between 20 and 50 years presenting with abdominal pain were included. The diagnosis of IBS was established using Rome III criteria. Prevalence of IBS was calculated and confounding factors such as age, gender, marital status, duration of abdominal pain, and economic status were stratified to see their effect on outcome variable by applying chi-square test and taking p-value of <0.05 as significant. Results: A total of 186 patients were included in this study. Some 100 (53.76%) were male and 86 (46.24%) were female. Mean age of the patients was 33.67 ± 7.08 years. Some 58.6% were married and 41.4% were single. Some 61.83% had mild abdominal pain and 38.17% had moderate pain. Out of the total 186 patients, the frequency of IBS was found to be 35.48%. There was no significant effect of confounding variables such as age, gender, duration of abdominal pain, marital status, and economic status on IBS. Conclusion: In our study the frequency of IBS in patients with abdominal pain is high with no significant effect of gender, marital status, economic status, and duration of abdominal pain on IBS.