Comparison of Geographic Distributions of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fail to Support Common Evolutionary Roots

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) shares overlapping symptoms and some features of pathogenesis with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD: Crohn ’s Disease [CD], and Ulcerative Colitis [UC]). Geographic markers such as latitude/sunshine and more recently lactase population distributions are found to be correlated with IBD. As a result of clinical and pathogenic similarities between the 2 conditions, some authorities questioned whether a co nnection exists between them. We compare IBS directly with IBD, and indirectly with geographic markers associated with IBD, in order to evaluate possible evolutionary links between IBS and IBD.
Source: Medical Hypotheses - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research