Common Disorder May Underlie Asthma and IBS

[Guest guest]

Common Disorder May Underlie Asthma and IBS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Jun 08 - Asthma appears to be more prevalent

among patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) than among individuals

without IBS, which suggests that there are pathophysiological processes

common to both conditions, according to Turkish researchers.

Dr. Aziz Yazar and colleagues, from the Mersin University Faculty of

Medicine, in Mersin, performed pulmonary function tests and noted

respiratory symptoms in 133 men and women with IBS and 137 controls. They

report their findings in the May issue of the American Journal of

Gastroenterology.

In the IBS group 33.8% of patients had respiratory symptoms, significantly

more than in the control group, 5.8%. In addition, 15.8% of the IBS patients

but only 1.45% of controls were diagnosed with asthma, Dr. Yazar's group

found.

Compared with controls, IBS patients had impaired pulmonary function,

including significantly lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second, flow

after 50% of vital capacity had been exhaled, peak expiratory flow rate, and

maximal midexpiratory flow rate.

In a previous study, the research team notes, patient responses to a

questionnaire showed that " IBS, gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, and

symptomatic bronchial hyper-responsiveness occur together more often than

expected and that the conditions are independently associated with each

other. "

Some of the lines of evidence for an association between IBS and asthma,

according to the researchers, are that in both disorders there is an altered

contractility and smooth muscle tone, the autonomic nervous system is

involved, and inflammation probably has an etiologic role.

Am J Gastroenterol 2001;96:1511-1516.