Prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The high prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in university populations, especially among medical students, raises concerns about its impact on health and academic performance.

Objective

To determine the prevalence of IBS in medical students through a systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis.

Methodology

An exhaustive search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase. A meta-analysis was performed to combine the overall prevalence, a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of the estimates, and meta-regressions to explore the influence of variables such as publication year and Rome criteria (III and IV).

Results

Forty-three studies were included: 25 studies (n = 13,055) used Rome III criteria and 19 studies (

SUBMITTER: Ballena-Caicedo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12745469 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature