Functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome in teenagers: Internet survey

Only a handful of studies have investigated children with functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) classified according to the Rome III criteria, and limited information is available on the lifestyle of affected patients.

We conducted an Internet questionnaire survey of 2060 parents among the general public in Japan who lived with their children aged 10-15, who were screened for FD and IBS.

The prevalence of FD and IBS was 2.8% and 6.1%, respectively, and 1.4% of the subjects met the criteria for both FD and IBS. The lifestyles of 155 subjects who met the criteria for FD, IBS, or both were compared with those of 1745 control subjects. In comparison with the controls, a significantly higher percentage of subjects with FD, IBS, or both thought that their sleep was insufficient, ate meals irregularly, were susceptible to stress and to dizziness on standing, had difficulty in getting out of bed or felt sluggish in the morning, had a tendency to faint when standing, and had migraine/chronic headache.

Children with FD and IBS are susceptible to stress, have impaired sleep and eating habits, and have more frequent symptoms of comorbid orthostatic dysregulation and headache.