Relationship between asthma and irritable bowel syndrome:: Role of food allergy

The increasing prevalence of both asthma and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are major health problems. One hundred twenty-five patients with asthma and 95 healthy subjects were included in this study. The rate of IBS was 29.6% and 12.7% ( p < 0.005), and the incidence of food allergy was 7.2% and 2.1% ( p > 0.05) respectively for asthma and control group. There was no significant association between asthma related parameters, IBS, and food allergy. There is not a single clear reason as to what causes IBS, so further studies are needed to clarify the potential pathogenic mechanisms underlying the association between IBS and asthma.