Awareness and Utilization of ROME Criteria for Diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Primary Care Physicians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

INTRODUCTION: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) accounts for a reasonable number of medical encounters in primary care, yet a large proportion of cases remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to non-application of systematic approach in such cases. AIM: We aimed to assess the awareness, attitude and self-reported utilization of ROME criteria among primary care physicians. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among primary care physicians under ministry of health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (N=216). A pre-designed, structured, closed ended, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: A great majority of physicians (about 86%) were aware about ROME criteria; about 57% were having detailed knowledge, while about 53% considered themselves skilled enough to use it confidently. Only 29% physicians reported to use it frequently in their day to day practice. Knowledge, attitude and practice were found to be significantly higher among family medicine specialty as compared to others (p<0.05), whereas knowledge and attitude were noted to be significantly higher among residents as compared to specialist (p<0.05). No association was noted with age, gender, nationality and duration of clinical experience (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: We found a low utilization of ROME criteria among physicians with remarkable gap between awareness and practice.