Irritable bowel syndrome in Egyptian medical students, prevalence and associated factors: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: irritable bowel syndrome is a recurrent chronic gastrointestinal functional disorder. Despite it is not dangerous; it carries a significant feedback on self-confidence and quality of life. Medical students are expected to develop irritable bowel syndrome because they are subjected to stress due to over academic pressure. The objectives were to investigate irritable bowel syndrome prevalence, and to detect the related risk factors in this specific group of Egyptian people. METHODS: this cross-sectional study performed in two faculties of medicine in Nile Delta, Egypt. It had been built on self-administered questionnaires including Rome III criteria for diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome, as well as several questions for gathering socio-demographic information and manifestations suggesting irritable bowel syndrome. RESULTS: fifty (27.5%) of 182 evaluated medical students achieved criteria of irritable bowel syndrome, 64% of them were mixed type. Irritable bowel syndrome had a significant relationship with coffee, milk products, fewer vegetables, and fruits intake (P=0.034, P=0.044, P<0.001 respectively). Depression, anxiety, and food intolerance were detected to be significantly related to irritable bowel syndrome (p<0.001, p=0.005, p=0.04) respectively. CONCLUSION: it was demonstrated that many Egyptian medical students were suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. Some dietary habits, anxiety, and depression of the students could be risk factors related to development of irritable bowel syndrome.