Original ArticleSubtypes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Children: Prevalence at Diagnosis and at Follow-Up
Section snippets
Methods
Patients eligible for the study were children aged 5-17 years who were referred for abdominal pain and subsequently received a diagnosis of IBS at 1 of 5 different Italian pediatric clinics—University of Naples “Federico II”, University of Foggia, Hospital-University of Parma, University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, and University of Insubria, Varese—between January 2010 and January 2012. IBS was diagnosed using the Rome III criteria for pediatric functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs).1
Results
Of 113 patients eligible for the study, 11 (9.7%) declined participation. Two children (1.8%) were excluded from the study because they improved after the 2-week lactose-free diet trial. In all subjects, laboratory findings were unremarkable. No children changed from IBS to another FGID during the study period.
We enrolled 100 children with diagnosis of IBS (48 boys and 52 girls, median age 9.9 years, range 4.2-16.7 years). Median time between onset of symptoms and diagnosis was 6.2 months
Discussion
The major findings of our study were that: (1) C-IBS was the prevalent subtype, with a significantly higher frequency in girls, and D-IBS was more frequent in boys; (2) the prevalent subtype did not change during the 12-month follow-up period; (3) there was a variation in bowel pattern in 24% of children during the follow-up period; and (4) among the intestinal and extraintestinal symptoms considered, none was related to IBS subtypes.
In our study, distribution of IBS subtypes showed that C-IBS
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.