The irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in emergency healthcare professionals

The aim of the present study was to determine the frequency of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in emergency healthcare professionals in a public hospital and characteristics of healthcare professionals diagnosed with IBS. The population of this descriptive study consisted of a total of 67 people including 8 physicians and 59 non-physician healthcare professionals working at Emergency Service of Bingol Public Hospital. A questionnaire with two sections was used to collect data. While the first section of the questionnaire which was prepared and administered by the researchers based on the literature had questions about demographic characteristics, working conditions, daily habits, dietary information; the second section included questions about IBS condition. The Rome III criteria were employed for diagnosis of IBS. When some characteristics were examined in terms of the presence of IBS, 65.9% of the males and 69.2% of the females have IBS. Upon examination of the individuals with IBS it was observed that the distribution of IBS was more in those who were male (60%); were younger than 40 years of age; were in overweight BMI group, were non- smokers, had poor or sedentary physical activity level, were drinking 3 or more cups of tea a day, were drinking 1-2 cups of coffee, had 3 meals a day, did not skip the meal and sometimes had snacks; however the differences were not statistically significant (p [Med-Science 2018; 7(3.000): 548-51]