J Neurogastroenterol Motil.  2010 Jan;16(1):47-51.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Healthy Screenee Undergoing Colonoscopy and Laboratory Tests

• Nam SY
• Kim BC
• Ryu KH
• Park BJ

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after excluding organic disease has not been reported in Korea.
METHODS
Of 5,605 participants in a health screening program, inclusion criteria were persons who underwent colonoscopy and completed questionnaires. Exclusion criteria were persons diagnosed with colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, previous colectomy, and abnormal results of thyroid function tests. IBS was defined by Rome III criteria. Physical and psychological stress was evaluated with visual analogue scales, ranging from 0 to 10. Risk factors for IBS were estimated with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS
The prevalence of IBS was 8.2% (5,605) in the total population and 9.1% (393/4,296) in the final study sample. IBS had a positive association with female sex (adjusted OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.00-1.79; p = 0.05) and current smoking (adjusted OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.00-1.71; p = 0.05). The prevalence of IBS increased with increased psychological stress (adjusted p for trend = 0.005) and decreased with increasing age (adjusted p for trend <0.001), with adjusted OR of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.68-1.33) for age of 40.0 to 49.9 years; 0.79 (95% CI, 0.54-1.15) for age of 50.0 to 59.9 years; and 0.51 (95% CI, 0.30-0.86) for age of 60 years or more, compared with age less than 40 years. Drinking status, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, and use of sedatives had no association with IBS.
CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of IBS increased with decreasing age and increasing psychological stress, and was positively associated with female sex and current smoking.

Keyword

Irritable bowel syndrome; Colonoscopy; Prevalence; Risk factors

MeSH Terms

Body Mass Index
Colectomy
Colonic Neoplasms
Colonoscopy
Drinking
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Hypnotics and Sedatives
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Korea
Logistic Models
Mass Screening
Odds Ratio
Prevalence
Surveys and Questionnaires
Risk Factors
Rome
Smoke
Smoking
Stress, Psychological
Thyroid Function Tests
Weights and Measures
Hypnotics and Sedatives
Smoke