Comparing Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Medical Sciences Students in Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background and Aims: This study aimed to measure the prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) among medical sciences students and differences in the prevalence with respect to specialty. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 271 medical field students (medicine, pharmacy, nursing, applied medical sciences, and dentistry students) in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered Rome IV questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. Results: About 14.8% of the respondents had chronic health problems, (35.8%) have a positive family history of IBS, and (29.9%) enrolled in the college of medicine. We found that the overall prevalence of IBS was 20.5% among medical field students, with the highest (31.4%) of nursing followed by medical and dental 28.4%, 27.1%, respectively. The lowest prevalence (5.5%) was among applied medical sciences students. In addition, (42.5%) of students with chronic diseases, 29.9% of students with a family history of IBS, (33.3%) of smokers students, and (16.1%) of students who sleep more than eight hours have been diagnosed with IBS. Family history of IBS and field of study were significant predictors of IBS among medical field students. Conclusions: The prevalence of IBS in medical sciences students was found to be high. This calls decision-makers to control this problem by developing strategies to detect, treat, and prevent IBS. Further large-scale studies are required to generalize the findings.