RESEARCH ARTICLE Patients with irritable bow y

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGD) which affects up to 20% of the general population, but can be considered as a “hidden ” public health disease. IBS has been reported to be associated with a broad variety of psychological and physical symptoms and discomforts, as well as impaired quality of life and increased use of health care resources [1-6]. In this group of patients, a common reason for seeking health care is fear of severe gastrointestinal (GI) or other illness [7-9]. Adequate consideration of co-morbidity is of vital importance for accurate diagnosis of FGDs and choice of treatment for this patient group. Although FGDs are not life-threatening, exclusion of serious diseases, such as different types of gastrointes-tinal cancer, is a major clinical challenge. The clinical decision-making is therefore often difficult, in light o