Understanding of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among General practitioners in the Periphery of Lahore

Objective: To determine the understanding of irritable bowel syndrome among general practitioners in Lahore in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Study Design: Observational, cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, University of Lahore Teaching Hospital, Lahore from 1st October 2020 to 31st March 2021. Methodology: Two hundred and ninety eight patients from both urban and rural territory in Lahore were enrolled. Manning and Rome criteria were applied to establish diagnosis of irritable syndrome. Patient's history, investigations and final diagnosis were recorded. After three months, patients were reassessed for final diagnosis and any alternative diagnosis if under consideration. Results: There were 180 (60.4%) females and 118 (39.6%) males with mean age of 34 years. About 70 patients presented with GIT complains were functional and 45 with organic problems. Out of 70 functional patients, 45 have irritable bowel syndrome. The condition was functional or organic quite inadequate and amounted to 56%. Conclusion: Majority of irritable bowel syndrome patients were either wrongly diagnosed by the general practitioners or inadequately treated.