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Irritable Bowel Syndrome subtypes: constipation, diarrhea…and mixed bowel pattern: Tertium datur
Author(s) -
Cremonini F.,
Lembo A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
neurogastroenterology and motility
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.489
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1365-2982
pISSN - 1350-1925
DOI - 10.1111/nmo.12274
Subject(s) - irritable bowel syndrome , diarrhea , constipation , medicine , gastroenterology
The study by Su et al . published in this issue of NGM provides helpful insight into a relatively large, yet understudied, subgroup of IBS known as IBS with mixed bowel pattern ( IBS ‐M). These investigators found among their 289 IBS subjects who underwent detailed assessment the IBS ‐M subtype to be particularly common. Interestingly, prior use of laxatives or antidiarrheal agents was found to potentially explain the mixed bowel pattern in approximately 30% of patients. These IBS ‐M patients tended to report more severe IBS symptoms. IBS ‐M patients had bowel symptoms more similar to IBS ‐D than IBS ‐C, particularly with regard to the rectal urgency. Hopefully many more studies will be forthcoming to further our understanding of IBS ‐M.