J Neurogastroenterol Motil.  2010 Oct;16(4):389-400.

The Current Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Asia

Affiliations
  • 1Division of Gastroenterology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. changfy@vghtpe.gov.tw

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has been one of the commonly presented gastrointestinal disorders. It is of interest how commonly it presents in the society. Western studies indicated that most population-based IBS prevalences range 10%-15%. It is believed that IBS is prevalent in both East and West countries without a significant prevalence difference. Most recently, the Asia IBS prevalence has a higher trend in the affluent cities compared to South Asia. Since many Asia IBS prevalence studies have been published in the recent decade, we could compare the IBS prevalence data divided by various criteria in looking whether they were also comparable to this of West community. Summarized together, most Asia community IBS prevalences based on various criteria are usually within the range 1%-10% and are apparently lower than these of selected populations. Within the same population, the prevalence orders are first higher based on Manning criteria, then followed by Rome I criteria and finally reported in Rome II criteria. Overall, the median value of Asia IBS prevalences defined by various criteria ranges 6.5%-10.1%. With regard to gender difference, female predominance is usually found but not uniquely existed. For the IBS subtypes, the proportions of diarrhea predominant-IBS distribute widely from 0.8% to 74.0%, while constipation predominant-IBS proportion ranges 12%-77%. In conclusions, current Asia IBS prevalence is at least equal to the Western countries. Female predominant prevalence in Asia is common but not uniquely existed, while the proportions of IBS subtypes are too variable to find a rule.

Keyword

Asia; Gastrointestinal motility; Irritable bowel syndrome; Prevalence

MeSH Terms

Asia
Constipation
Cross-Sectional Studies
Diarrhea
Female
Gastrointestinal Motility
Humans
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Prevalence
Rome
Full Text Links
  • JNM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr