The prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among high school pupile in Gorgan, North of Iran

Background and Objective: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disturbance of colonic function characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating and abnormal bowel function, resulting in episodes of chronic diarrhea, chronic constipation, or both in alternation. It affects approximately 3 to 20 percent of the population. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Irritable bowel syndrome among the high school pupile in Gorgan, in North of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross sectional study, data was collected by clustering, quota and randomized sampling. 1080, 15-19 years old male and female high school pupiles, residing in Gorgan participated in the survey during 2007. The data collection tool was a demographic questionnaire and standard Rome-II criteria. Results: 1063 pupiles completed the questionnaire. The Irritable bowel syndrome prevalence according to Rome-II was 5.7%. The relation between ethnicity and Irritable bowel syndrome was significant (P