“Gastrointestinal” comorbidity in irritable bowel syndrome

Among the large and heterogeneous group of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) comorbidity is characteristic feature. Comorbidity is an urgent problem in real clinical practice. Gastrointestinal comorbidity of a patient with IBS is associated with the presence of common pathogenetic links and is represented by combined pathology with functional disorders and the formation of “overlap syndrome” with organic diseases. Often, with a comorbid course, the phenomenon of “mutual burdening” is observed, when the severity of the course of each of them increases. All this requires optimization of approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of this cohort of patients. Obviously, with a comorbid course of IBS, it is advisable to prescribe drugs that affect the general links of pathogenesis, rather than focusing on individual symptoms. This article presents modern information on the gastrointestinal comorbidity of a patient with IBS.