A42 IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME IN JORDANIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the commonest diagnoses in medicine. The association with stress is well documented. Studying medicine is a highly demanding and stressful, and postulated to predispose medical students to IBS. Aims: To estimate the prevalence of Irritable bowel syndrome in Jordanian Medical Students using ROME III criteria. To study the relation between life-style(food,activity, smoking,..) and Irritable bowel Syndrome in Jordanian Medical students. Methods: This is a cross sectional study included 142 medical students, selected randomly out of four medical schools in Jordan. A confidential, anonymous, and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect personal and sociodemographic data, in addition to the Rome III questionnaires. Rome foundation agreed on using the questionnaires. The study was granted approval by the ethics committee of Faculty of Medicine at Mutah University. All participants give their consent to participate in the study. Results: 300 questionnaires distributed, 160 returned answered, 142 (47.3%) included in the final analysis. 62(43.7%) were females. 30 (22.4%) students met the criteria for IBS diagnosis. Male dominated, with male: female of 2:1.The most common sub-type of IBS was the mixed type comprising half the cases, followed by diarrhea predominant and constipation predominant at 26.7% and 23.3%, respectively. Eating (Junk Food/Dairy products), level of exercise, smoking and drinking alcohol were not different between IBS students and non-IBS students. In comparison between IBS subtypes, mixed-subtype smoke more frequent than other subtypes, which was statistically significant.12 (40%) of IBS students reported that there symptoms worsen during exam time. Conclusions: IBS is not uncommon in Jordanian medical students. Males are more affected than females. Life style was not statistically different between IBS students and non-IBS students. Significant number of those students reported worsening of their symptoms on exam time.