Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Lamar- Libya Primary Care General practices

• Salem Awami

  Department of medicine, Faculty of medicine, Omar AL-Mukhtar University, El-Bayda, Libya

  Author

• Faraj Alhomry

  Department of medicine, Faculty of medicine, Omar AL-Mukhtar University, El-Bayda, Libya

  Author

• Najib Mohamed

  Department of medicine, Faculty of medicine, Omar AL-Mukhtar University, El-Bayda, Libya

  Author

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic or recurrent abdominal symptom. No cause can be identified using conventional diagnostic testing and it is characterized by abdominal pain or cramping and changes in bowel function. Aims of our study were to estimate the prevalence of functional bowel disorders namely C1; Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among clinic-based patients, and to assess health-care seeking in subjects with functional bowel disorders. The study used participants recruited from AL Marj- Libyan Red Crescent Clinic primary care general practices. Between November 2012 and December 2013, each study subject was asked according to a prepared questionnaire. This questionnaire depends on Rome III diagnostic criteria for irritable bowel syndrome.  450 consecutive patients attended the Red Crescent Clinic, 234 (52%) were female and 216 (48 %) were male. Population age ranged from 20-80 years, and the mean age was 53 years (SD+ 15.6). In our study, the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is 12%, and 53.3% of the subjects had looked for medical advice for abdominal pain. There was no significant association observed between the prevalence of IBS and sex. IBS was11.9% in women and 12.1% in men. Elderly were the least frequent sufferer of IBS and the least medical advice seeker compared to younger age groups, which necessitate not overlooking organic cause in such age group. Considerable patients seek medication and traditional remedies due to their bowel disorders. Further investigations of the treatment are required because of the high financial burden for individuals as well as for the society.

Chang, F. Y. Lu, C. L. and Chen, T. S. (2010). The current prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in Asia." Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility 16(4): 389-400.

Drossman, D.A. (2006). "Rome III: the new criteria." Journal of Digestive Diseases 7(4): 181-185.

Gorecki, C. Brown J. Cano, S. Lamping, D. Briggs, M. Coleman, S. Dealey, C. McGinnis, E. Nelson, A, Stubbs, N. Wilson, L. and Nixon, J. (2013). "Development and validation of a new patient-reported outcome measure for patients with pressure ulcers: the PU-QOL instrument." Health and quality of life outcomes 11(1): 95.

Horwitz, B. J. and Fisher, R. S. (2001). "The irritable bowel syndrome." New England Journal of Medicine 344(24): 1846-1850.

Icks, A. Rathmann, W. Enck, P. Giani, G. (2000)." What is the real prevalence of the IrritableBowel Syndrome?" Gastroentero -logy; 118 (Suppl.): A717

Ikechi, R. Bradford, D. De Sipio, F. J. and Phadtare, S. (2017).Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Clinical Manifestations, Dietary Influences, and Management. Healthcare Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Lawrence, K. and Hyde, J. (2017). Microbiome restoration diet improves digestion, cognition and physical and emotional wellbeing . PloS one 12(6): e0179017.

Lu, C. L. Chang, F. Y. C. Chen, Y. , J. Luo, C. and Lee, S. D. (2006). Significance of Rome II-defined functional constipation in Taiwan and comparison with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 24:429–438.

Mertz, H. R. (2003). Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The New England Journal of Medicine; 349(22):2136-2146.

Ringström, G. Abrahamsson H. Strid H. and Simrén, M. (2007).Why do subjects with irritable bowel syndrome seek health care for their symptoms? Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 42(10): 1194-1203.

Spiller, R. Aziz, Q. Creed, F. Emmanuel, A. Houghton, L. Hungin, P. Jones, R. Kumar, D. Rubin, G. Trudgill, N. and Whorwell, P. (2007).Guidelines on the irritable bowel syndrome: mechanisms and practical management. Gut. 56(12):1770–1798

Talley, N. J. Boyce, P. M. and Jones, M. (1997). Predictors of health care seeking for irritable bowel syndrome: a population based study. Gut. 41: 394–398

Talley, N. J. O'Keefe, E. A. Zinsmeister, A. R. and Melton, L.J. (1992a).Prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in the elderly: A population-based study. Gastroentero –logy 102: 895-901.

Talley, N. J. Stanghellini, V. Heading, R. C. Koch, K. L. Malagelada, R. Tytgat, G. N. (1999).Functional gastroduodenal disorders. Gut. 45 (Suppl II):II37–II42

Talley, N.J. Weaver, A.L. Zinsmeister, A.R. and Melton, L.J. (1992b).Onset and disappearance of gastrointestinal symptoms and functional gastrointestinal disorders. American Journal of Epidemiology 136(2): 165-177.

World Health Organization. (2013). Process of translation and adaptation of instruments WHO.

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2021 Salem Awami, Faraj Alhomry, Najib Mohamed

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright of the articles Published by Almukhtar Journal of Science (MJSc) is retained by the author(s), who grant MJSc a license to publish the article. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors and cite MJSc as the original publisher. Also, they accept the article remains published by the MJSc website (except in the occasion of a retraction of the article).