Abstract
Background & aims: Most of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have IBS symptoms since their middle teenage. However, analysis in detail of adolescent IBS was generally lacking. The objective of this research was to now the features of adolescent IBS in Japan. Subjects & Methods: We randomly selected junior high school students in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, according to population of the areas of educational committees. The response rate was 76.9%, 833 boys and 888 girls (age: 15 y.o.) participated in this study. They fulfilled self-reported questionnaires which included Rome-II Modular Questionnaire (RIIMQ), Self-reported IBS Questionnaire (SIBSQ) based on Rome-II criteria, Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), SF-36v2 and other questions on their lives. Results: One hundred and six boys (12.7%) and 145 girls (16.3%) were diagnosed as IBS by Rome-II Modular Questionnaire. No IBS students consulted hospital because of IBS symptoms at present or in the past. Distribution of residential area showed no significant difference between IBS students and controls who have no abdominal symptoms (boys: n=214, girls: n=148). In IBS symptoms of modular questionnaires, IBS girls had significantly severer symptoms in hard stool (p<0.0005), strain (p<0.05) and abdominal distension (p<0.005) than IBS boys, and IBS boys who had significantly more frequent defecation (p<0.05). Also, IBS girls showed severer lumpy stool (p<0.05), abdominal distension (p<0.005), perceived stress (p<0.001) and exaggeration of symptoms under stress (p<0.05) in a preceding week than IBS boys. IBS students complained sleep disturbance more often than controls, especially of sleep-onset insomnia (p<0.001), frequent awakening (p<0.001), non-restorative sleep (p<0.005) and feeling sleep short (p<0.0001). There were no significant differences in types of sleep disturbances except average sleeping time and feeling sleep short between IBS boys and IBS girls. IBS students had more traumatic episodes and felt their lives more stressful than controls (p<0.0001, respectively). IBS girls had more traumatic episodes (p<0.05) and felt more stressful in their lives (p<0.05) than IBS boys. Half of their traumatic episodes were related with their school lives. IBS students had lower scores in GSES (p<0.0001) and every SF-36v2 subscales (p<0.0001, respectively) than control students. In SF-36, IBS girls had higher PF scores (p<0.05) and lower MH scores (p<0.05) than IBS boys. Conclusion: Prevalence and psychological features of adolescent IBS were similar to those of adult IBS, however they also have unique characteristics.
