[Irritable bowel syndrome. Epidemiological study on young people in Iceland.]

An epidemiological study on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) was done on 411 otherwise healthy young subjects in Iceland. A questionnaire was used, based on socalled Manning's criteria for IBS (Br Med J1978; 2: 633). IBS was diagnosed if two or more of the six Manning's criteria were positive. It was asked if these criteria (symptoms) were associated with stress or required medical treatment. Furthermore the questionnaire addressed 13 other symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract (GI). For analysis we could use answers of 400 subjects, 63.2% females, 36.8% males, most of them (93.5%) 19-29 years old. 37.9% met the criteria of IBS, and the diagnosis was significantly more often present among women (46.6%) than men (22.5%). Usually the IBS symptoms are related to stress, but few received medical treatment. All the 13 other GI symptoms are more frequent in IBS subjects than the others and there was a significant association of IBS with nausea, upper abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, painless diarrhea and flatulence. In summary, the results of this study suggest that: (i) IBS is very common among young adults in Iceland, (ii) prevalence in Iceland is higher than reported elsewhere, (hi) the female:male ratio is 2:1, (iv) stress is a precipitating factor in IBS, (v) it is suggestive that few patients with IBS seek medical attention, (vi) IBS patient have, beside classical IBS symptoms, more frequently other digestive symptoms, which are suggestive of both upper and lower GI functional disorders.