The prevalence and pattern of irritable bowel syndrome among Nairobi University workers

Abstract

INTRODUCTION; IrritableBowel Syndrome is a prevalent functional bowel disease in the west. In Africa less research has been done on the subject and in Kenya only one studyhas been done on IBS. OBJECTIVES; To determine the prevalence and clinical subtypes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Nairobi University Workers. To determine the utilization of health services by IBS patients among Nairobi University workers and the impactof IBS on workers of Nairobi University. STUDY DESIGN; Cross-sectional descriptive study. STUDY POPULATION ISITE; University of Nairobi workers working in Nairobi. RESULTS; This study recruited 724 Nairobi University workers out of who 79 (11.1%) fulfilled IBS case definition. The prevalence of IBS among male and female workers was 10.5% and 11.7% respectively. The mean age was 34.8 ~ 9.2 years with age ranging from 20 to 59 years. IBS was more prevalent among workers in the 50-60 age group with 16.4% (11).The predominant IBS subtype was the diarrhoea subtype which represented 42% (32) while constipation subtype of IBS accounted for 19%(15) and constipation alternating diarrhoea IBS was 39% (30). 19% of the workers with IBS had frequent abdominal pain before 15 years of age compared to 8.9.%of workers with no IBS (P=0.005). In the last one year 48.1% (38) of the workers with IBS sought medical attention for abdominal pain. The common type of medicine given to IBS patients was antispasmodic which accounted for 42.1% and antacids 39.5%. 68.2% of workers with IBS who visited the doctor for abdominal pain did so because they believed they had a serious disease. More workers with IBS missed work (8.9%) compared to workers who did not have IBS (3.7%) (P=0.016). However, comparatively workers with IBS missed work for fewer days than workers who did not have IBS with 3.50 mean days versus 4.73 mean days respectively (P=0.547). 13.9% of workers with IBS had their activities interrupted by IBS symptomatology compared to 5.1% of workerswith no IBS (P=0.01). Workers with IBS had less days of interruption of social activities compared to workers without IBS, 1 day versus 4.50 days respectively. The percentage of workers with IBS whose activities was interrupted by other illness apart from IBS was 13.9% compared to 9.9% of theworkers with no IBS (P=0.111). CONCLUSION; IBS is a common condition among Nairobi university workers with a prevalence of 11.1% (95% CI 8.7-13.3%). Diarrhoea was the predominant subtype of IBS. At least half of the patients with IBS visited the doctor for this problem per year. Most of the IBS patients who visited the doctors had relief with the medicine they were prescribed. Interruption of social activities and missingwork was not significant among IBS workers.