[Irritable bowel syndrome: questionnaires and scores]

Abstract

The goals of questionnaires and scores differ. This article emphasizes their value in the diagnosis of the irritable bowel syndrome. In 1978, Manning et al. studied patients with the irritable bowel syndrome or organic disease with a questionnaire of 15 questions. Retrospective analysis of results showed that the presence of one or several characteristic symptoms can lead to the diagnosis of the irritable bowel syndrome. We evaluated a score system based on a 5 question questionnaire and a list of 8 investigations performed to eliminate organic disease. We were able to show that this score allowed to make the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome with accuracy because the specificity was 97 percent and the sensitivity was 83 percent. Similar results have been obtained in other studies. Moreover, a group from India has developed a system based on 19 questions which has also proved to be very accurate in the diagnosis of the irritable bowel syndrome.