Abstract
Little is known about the prevalence and risk factors for the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in Japan. It is reported that heredity and social learning contribute to the development of IBS. In the previous study from our laboratory, a sample of 417 adults seen for annual health screening examinations and 56 patients diagnosed as IBS by gastroenterologists were recruited to estimate the prevalence of IBS, to confirm that subjects with IBS are more likely to have parents with a history of bowel problems, and to determine whether this risk factor interacts with psychological distress. In this study, 14.2%(15.5% of females and 12.9% of males) of the community sample met the criteria for IBS diagnosis, of whom 22.0% consulted physicians. Patients and non-consulters with IBS were more likely than controls to have the parental history. Moreover, it was found that patients with such a family history show more psychological distress than other patients. These findings suggest that illness behaviors learned from parents may affect the development of IBS.
