Abstract: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) according to the Rome III criteria and its subtypes among King Saud University (KSU) undergraduate male students and to describe correlation of symptoms with multiple variables such as exercise, body mass index, family history and others.
Material and methods: A hard copy questionnaire was constructed by our team in February-march 2013 and 600 questionnaires were handled to undergraduate students of the different colleges at KSU (5 humanitarian colleges, 6 science colleges and 5 health colleges. IBS was estimated by the Rome III criteria.
Results: A total of 509 responders were obtained with mean age 21.4 years (19–25 years range).169 of them (33.2%) fulfilled the Rome III criteria for IBS and had no organic diagnosis to explain their symptoms and 340 (66.8%) did not fulfil the criteria. Subtypes were: mixed IBS 68%, IBS with diarrhea 17%, IBS with constipation 7%, and unsubtyped IBS 8%. The prevalence of IBS among the different colleges was variable, the highest being in faculty of medicine (48%) and the lowest prevalence was in the faculty of business and administration (10.7%).The full description of results in all colleges will be presented.
The prevalence of IBS was higher in those who are more than 22 years old, in slim subjects than in obese ones, people with chronic diseases, those with family history of IBS and those who eat more frequent fast food. Those who exercised regularly were less affected; however, there were some variables with no significant association like smoking.
Conclusion: The prevalence of IBS according to Rome III in undergraduate students at KSU was 33.2% and was higher in medical students compared to other colleges. Multiple factors may contribute to these findings.
Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Undergraduate Male Students.
Title: The Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among King Saud University Undergraduate Male Students
Author: Mohammed Al-Karbi, Naif Al-Sulaiman, Basel Al-Sugair, Ahmed Al-Thukair, Akeel Al-Mahdaly, Saleh Othman
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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