title: Blastocystosis in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms: a case-control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blastocystosis is a frequent bowel disease. We planned to to evaluate the prevalence of Blastocystis spp. in patients who applied to the same internal medicine-gastroenterology clinic with or without gastrointestinal complaints to reveal the association of this parasite with diagnosed IBS and IBD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2334 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms composed the study group, which included 335 patients with diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease and 877 with irritable bowel syndrome. Patients without any gastrointestinal symptoms or disease (n = 192) composed the control group. Parasite presence was investigated by applying native-Lugol and formol ethyl acetate concentration to stool specimens, and trichrome staining method in suspicious cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Blastocystis spp. was detected in 134 patients (5.74%) in the study group and 6 (3.12%) in the control group (p = 0.128). In the study group, Blastocystis spp. was detected at frequencies of 8.7% in ulcerative colitis (24/276), 6.78% in Crohn's disease (4/59), 5.82% in irritable bowel syndrome (51/877), and 4.9% in the remaining patients with gastrointestinal symptoms (55/1122). Blastocystis spp. was detected at a statistically significant ratio in the inflammatory bowel disease (odds ratio [OR] = 2.824; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.149-6.944; p = 0.019) and ulcerative colitis (OR = 2.952; 95% CI: 1.183-7.367; p = 0.016) patients within this group compared to controls. There were no statistically significant differences between the control group and Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome patients in terms Blastocystis spp. frequency (p = 0.251, p = 0.133).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blastocystosis was more frequent in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, especially those with ulcerative colitis. Although symptomatic irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease patients had higher rates of Blastocystis spp. infection, the differences were not significant when compared to controls.
authors.affiliation: Deparment of Gastroenterology, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey. ayhancekin@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ayhan Hilmi
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Cekin
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cekin
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Adakan
authors.forename: Ezel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tasdemir
authors.forename: Fatma Gulsun
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Koclar
authors.forename: Basak Oguz
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Yolcular
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016844:Blastocystis; D016776:Blastocystis Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies