Prevalence and risk factors of IBS among medical and nonmedical students in the Jouf university.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome is common in the community and its prevalence is higher among the medical students.

Aim: The current study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and evaluate the risk factors of irritable bowel syndrome among medical and nonmedical students of the Jouf University.

Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among medical and nonmedical students of the Jouf University. Study targeted 200 medical and nonmedical students using the convenience sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was adopted for the study and consisted of three parts with questions on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, eating habits, academics, and irritable bowel syndrome. Descriptive statistics were carried out to present the demographic characteristics. Chi-square test, odds ratio with 95% CI was calculated for analyzing differences between study variables using SPSS version-16. Multivariate analysis of lifestyle and dietary predictors of IBS was carried out by the enter method.

Results: With a response rate of 90.5%, 181 students completed the questionnaire. Around 53 (29.28%) were found to be suffering from IBS with 41 (77.35%) being males. Male gender, married status, and living status of participants were significantly associated with the occurrence of IBS. Prevalence of IBS was found to be more in students who were from the medical college (P = 0.000), students who smoke (P = 0.003), who slept less than 8 h (P = 0.042), and students who often take carbonated drinks (P = 0.003). Smoking, frequency of exercise, coffee intake, and intake of carbonated drinks were strong predictors of IBS on multivariate analysis of lifestyle and dietary factors.

Conclusion: We conclude that there is an increased prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome among medical students. Male gender, married status, living in hostel, smoking, less than 8 h sleep, and carbonated drinks were predictive factors for IBS in our study. We recommend screening of medical students for irritable bowel syndrome and institution of interventional measures.