The Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Among Board Certified Medical Doctors: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders. The prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome varies in different countries. A pooled analysis showed a global prevalence of 11.2% (Lovell RM et al. 2012). Health care providers represent a distinct part of society. Their careers are perceived as stressful with specific challenges. Few studies looked at the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in this population. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of IBS among board certified physicians and surgeons. We also assessed whether the type of practice, specialty or number of hours worked per week influence this prevalence. Methods: Board certified physicians and surgeons in Saudi Arabia were invited to complete a web based survey. It included questions regarding participant demographics, specialty, practice type and hours worked per week. The Rome IV validated questionnaire was used to identify subjects with irritable bowel syndrome. The primary outcome of the study was the prevalence of IBS among physicians. Secondary outcomes included exploring the effect on IBS prevalence of age, gender, marital status, work hours, specialty, gastroenterology subspecialty, and working in a public versus private hospital. Results: The final analysis included 594 subjects, with 419 males and a median age of 41. The vast majority (86%) were married. Nearly 90% worked in a public hospital exclusively, and the median number of hours worked per week was 48. The overall prevalence of IBS was 16.3%. In a binary logistic regression model, age (OR = 0.931, p<0.0001), gender (OR = 0.504, p=0.003) and work hours (OR 2.397, p<0.0001) significantly predicted the presence of IBS. Marital status and specialty did not predict IBS prevalence. Conclusion: This study shows that the prevalence of IBS among Saudi physicians to be 16.3%. IBS was more common in females, those who worked longer hours and younger physicians. To our knowledge, this is the first study to look at the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome among physicians and surgeons utilizing the Rome IV criteria. Only one previous study looked at the prevalence of IBS among resident physicians (Wells MM et al. 2012). In that study the prevalence of IBS was (19 %) not that different from our results. There was no association between practicing certain specialties and IBS. However, the lack of difference in our cohort may be attributed to the relatively small sample size from each specialty.461 Figure 1 No Caption available.