Frequency of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences; 2008-2009

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder with unknown pathophysiology and a number of detrimental effects including; leave of absence، seeking for medical treatment، and a poor quality of life. We evaluated the frequency of this syndrome among students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2008-2009. In this cross-sectional study، 406 students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences were choosen by systematic sampling method. The collecting data tool was a self-administrated questionnaire which designed according to the RomeIII. Data were then analyzed by X2 test and t-Test. Of 274 completed and returned questionnaires، 175 (63. 9%) belonged to female and 99 (36. 1%) belonged to male with a mean age of 21. 36 ± 2. 3 years (± standard deviation). Sixteen (5. 8%) students had IBS with common symptoms of pain or abdominal discomfort associated with a change in frequency of stool (12. 4%). These symptoms were more significantly frequent in women than in men (p=0. 015). No significant differences were obseved between the other demographic variables and the frequency of IBS. The frequency of IBS was 5. 8% in this study which was comparable to those reported from the other cities of Iran (4. 2%-18. 4%) or of developed countries and it was lower than the results from the developing countries.