A review of the irritable bowel syndrome investigation on epidemiology, pathogenesis and pathophysiology in China

Abstract

Background and aim: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent functional disorder with poor understanding on its pathogenesis and pathology. China has huge amount of population and have a lot of literatures on IBS in Chinese publications. The aim of this article was to review the reported investigations on IBS in China and discuss the difference between China and other country.

Methods: Literatures pertaining IBS epidemiology, pathogenesis and pathophysiology, which published in the high level journals in china and SCI journals after 1998 were reviewed.

Result: In the general health population, 5-6% meets the Rome II IBS criteria. Intestinal infection, food intolerance, genetic factor and psychological disturbance were responsible for the pathogenesis of IBS. In IBS patients, the impaired reaction to rectal distension, abnormal gastrointestinal motility, impaired autonomic nerve function, weakened colon epithelium connection, altered cerebral nuclei activation were the main pathophysiological findings.

Conclusion: Comparing to the findings from other area, literatures from China provided more evidences on epidemiological data of IBS in China, post-infection IBS, visceral hypertension and gastrointestinal motility abnormalities in IBS. This detailed literature review may help the understanding and promoting the future studies on IBS.