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Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable Bowel Syndrome Basics

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Women Are At Higher Risk

Women are no strangers to vague abdominal symptoms such as bloating, gas and bowel irregularities. For the most part, these symptoms occur monthly and are short lived. But for women with irritable bowel syndrome, known as IBS, these symptoms can be constant and interfere with everyday life.

At least twice as many women as men have IBS, a gastrointestinal condition marked by chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea and/or constipation. IBS is most often diagnosed in women in their 20s, and its symptoms can be experienced on and off throughout adulthood. Although it's not fully understood why IBS is more common in women, there are a number of biological and cultural theories. Below, Dr. Lin Chang, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, discusses IBS and its impact on women.

What is IBS?
IBS is known as a functional bowel disorder because there is no particular abnormality that causes it. Instead, patients have a cluster of symptoms. The major symptom of IBS is abdominal pain or discomfort. Patients have either diarrhea or constipation, or they might alternate between the two. Other common symptoms are bloating, a sensation of incomplete evacuation, urgency, particularly in patients with diarrhea and sometimes mucus in the stool.

How common is IBS?
Worldwide, the prevalence is between 10 and 20 percent. What's interesting is that about two-thirds of individuals who have IBS don't see a doctor for their symptoms. “I think some people don't realize that they have a condition that their doctors can diagnose or treat,” says Chang. In other situations, people may feel that doctors will think it's “all in their head” because there are no objective tests to diagnose IBS.

What are some reasons for the gender difference?
There are many different reasons why there might be a gender difference. “I think that they include how women and men perceive themselves in society,” says Chang, “and whether they are willing to complain of GI symptoms like gas or diarrhea and constipation.” There are also probably a lot of biologic mechanisms that may have to do with estrogen, the female sex hormone, that affect the gut. So there is a whole host of biologic and psychosocial differences between men and women that may play a role in IBS.

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