The spectra, symptom profiles and overlap of Rome III functional gastrointestinal disorders in a tertiary center in South China

Abstract

Objective: Most previous studies exploring the overlap of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) focus on the overlap between functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, we aimed to explore the spectra, symptom profiles and overlap of all FGID using the validated Chinese version of the Rome III questionnaire.

Methods: Consecutive newly diagnosed FGID patients who were admitted to the Outpatient Gastroenterology Clinic from 10 May to 10 September 2012 were recruited in the study. All the patients complained of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms for at least 3 months with a symptom onset of at least 6 months before diagnosis after excluded organic diseases. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were asked to complete the scoring algorithm for the Rome III integrated questionnaire.

Results: Among 350 eligible patients, 302 (86.3%) returned completed questionnaires. A total of six major domains including 17 disorders were diagnosed. The four most prevalent FGID were FD (54.6%), IBS (40.7%), unspecified functional bowel disorder (13.9%) and functional constipation (12.6%). The three most prevalent symptoms in FGID were abdominal pain (66.2%), loose stool (58.3%) and abdominal bloating/distension (56.3%). Of the 302 patients, 152 (50.3%) had one to five overlapping FGID. Only functional bloating had no overlap. Six patients had five overlapping FGID simultaneously. In all, 63 patients had overlapping FD and IBS.

Conclusions: This study provided the detailed spectra and symptom profiles for all FGID. Overlapping FGID are common in China.

Keywords: China; epidemiology; functional dyspepsia; functional gastrointestinal disorders; irritable bowel syndrome; overlap.