title: Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Migraine and Co-Existing IBS-Migraine in Medical Students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and migraine frequently co-exist. Stress is a major contributing factor for both. Our medical students are subjected to stress related to the implicit responsibility of courses. But the prevalence of IBS, migraine and co-existing migraine in medical students is not known.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of migraine, IBS and co-existing IBS and migraine among medical students. A Cross-Sectional Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported questionnaire based study, was conducted in which migraine was defined according to International Headache Society (IHS) criteria while IBS by both Asian criteria and Rome III criteria. Both preclinical (n=142) and clinical students (n=151) of four medical colleges (government and private) of Dhaka and Sylhet district participated in the study.Statistical Analysis:Student's t-test and chi-square test were used to compare the distributions of continuous data and categorical data respectively with significance level set at 0.05 or less.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 293 students (mean age 21.09 ± 2.24 years) volunteered in the study (Males= 177), 14 (4.8%, 11 males, 3 females, p = 0.175) met the criteria for IBS with comparable prevalence among preclinical and clinical (4.2% vs. 5.3%, p = 0.787) students from both private and government institutions (2.1% vs. 7.2%, p = 0.055). IBS-D was the most prevalent subtype (n = 8, M = 6) and abdominal pain relieved by defecation (n = 11), was the most prevalent symptom. Fifty percent (n = 7) of IBS patients considered their bowel habit as normal. Among the 221 (75.4%) students with headache, only 51 (17.4%, 20 males and 31 females, p = 0.001) were diagnosed of migraine, with comparable prevalence among preclinical and clinical students (16.2% vs. 18.5%, p = 0.645). Only 17 (33%) subjects with migraine had accompanying aura. Common triggers were stress (n = 43), lack of sleep (n = 42), and daily life events. Twelve (23.5%) subjects with migraine had migraine-associated frequent disability. Only two female students with IBS-D (14.3%) had concomitant IBS and migraine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IBS and concomitant migraine - IBS prevalence was found to be low in our medical students, but migraine prevalence corresponds to other countries as well as in medical students.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Enam Medical College , Dhaka, Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Irin
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perveen
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Enam Medical College , Dhaka, Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Rukhsana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parvin
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, North East Medical College , Sylhet, Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Madhusudan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College , Sylhet, Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Md Shafiqul
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bari
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Neuro-medicine, Enam Medical College , Dhaka, Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Md Nazmul
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Huda
authors.affiliation: Research Medical Officer, UChicago Research , Bangladesh .
authors.forename: Mridul Kanti
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ghosh
keywords: International headache society criteria; Rome III