It’s a Women’s World: A New Look at Sex Differences in Patients with the Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) exhibits significant sex differences. The female predominance in its worldwide prevalence and variations in symptomatology, treatment efficacy, and adverse effects all may arise from differences in pathophysiology. Due to entrenched historical biases, only recently have studies considered biological differences between the sexes that could affect the understanding of IBS. In this commentary, inspired by a study published in the Digestive Diseases and Sciences, the authors not only focus on different aspects of sexual dimorphism in IBS but also elaborate on the challenges that arise from studying female physiology and its temporal changes in relation to disease characteristics and treatment outcomes.