Epidemiology of functional gastrointestinal disorders using ROME III adult questionnaire, a population based cross sectional study in Karachi—Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder (FGIDs) are a heterogenous group of disorders, with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Functional Dyspepsia (FD) being the most common disorders worldwide. The purpose of this study was to identify the spectra of FGIDs classified according to the ROME III criteria amongst an adult Pakistani population. It also aimed to correlate the psychosocial alarm symptoms with the prevalence of FGIDs and report the overlap of all FGID. DESIGN: This was a community based cross-sectional study. Multi-stage cluster sampling technique was applied, and 1062 households were initially randomly chosen using systematic sampling technique. Only one person from each household was enrolled in the study. After eligibility screening, 860 participating individuals were requested to fill out a structured ROME III interview questionnaire, administered to them by a trained interviewer. RESULTS: FGIDs were diagnosed in 468 individuals (54.4%), out of 860 participants. FD was found to be the most prevalent (70.2%), followed by Functional Heartburn (58.9%) and Functional bloating (56.6%). Amongst a total of 468 participants diagnosed with FGIDs, 347 (74.1%) had overlapping disorders. There was also a higher incidence of psychosocial alarm symptoms including higher pain severity (62.6% vs 46.4%) and being victimized at some point in their lives (26.1% vs 6.6%) amongst FGID patients. CONCLUSION: There is a high disease burden of FGIDs in this study population, with approximately half of the population suffering from at least one type of FGID. Overlapping disorders are also common in this part of the world.