[Symptoms of irritable colon among the elderly]

A sex stratified random sample of 70-year-old Danes living in Glostrup County was interviewed about abdominal symptoms in order to assess 1) the prevalence of colon-related symptoms and irritable bowel syndrome among the elderly and 2) to which extent different definitions of irritable bowel syndrome identify different subjects as having irritable bowel syndrome. Abdominal pain occurred with a prevalence of 17% among men and 28% among women (p < 0.01), distension with a prevalence of 29% and 40%, borborygms with a prevalence of 16% and 27%, and varying consistency of stool with a prevalence of 25% and 28%, for men and women respectively. The median number of bowel movements a week was seven for both sexes. Prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome was 3-18% among men and 6-32% among women according to various definitions. The subpopulations identified by various definitions of irritable bowel syndrome had less than 50% of the subjects in common.