Clinical-alimentary tractA prospective assessment of bowel habit in irritable bowel syndrome in women: Defining an alternator
Section snippets
Study population and protocol
Between 1996 and 2001, female patients between the ages of 18 and 70 years with a functional bowel disorder were enrolled at the University of North Carolina and the University of Toronto to participate in a treatment trial. 4 Before randomization and at the end of the 3-month treatment period either with desipramine or pill placebo or with cognitive-behavioral treatment or education, patients filled out 2 weeks of daily diary cards and then underwent clinical and physiologic assessments. After
Study population
At baseline, there were 317 women with IBS. These patients were subcategorized as having IBS-D (35.6%), IBS-M (neither IBS-D nor IBS-C; 30.6%), or IBS-C (33.8%) using Rome II definitions. The mean age was 38.6 years, 84.9% were white, the mean education level was 14.9 years, and 49.2% were married. There were no demographic differences between subtypes of IBS, except that women with IBS-M were about 2 years younger than women with IBS-D or IBS-C (P = .04).
Baseline comparisons of clinical variables
Table 1 compares the 3 IBS subtypes at
Discussion
IBS is defined as abdominal pain or discomfort associated with altered bowel habit (ie, diarrhea, constipation, or both). 1, 2, 3 In recent years, IBS has been subcategorized into either IBS-D or IBS-C using definitions from the Rome II criteria. 2, 3 The remaining group with Rome II IBS (ie, non–IBS-D, non–IBS-C) is best considered as IBS-M, because this is a heterogeneous group consisting of individuals having symptoms of diarrhea and constipation but not meeting Rome II criteria for either
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Supported by National Institutes of Health grant RO1DK49334 and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.