Authors: F. Cremonini and N. J. Talley

Institution: Clinical Enteric Neuroscience Translational and Epidemiological Research (C.E.N.T.E.R.) Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

Summary:Functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome are currently considered to be two separate nosological entities. However, the overlap of symptoms and the evidence of a number of common pathophysiological characteristics suggest that functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome may be different presentations of the same disorder.

In this review, we critically appraise points in common, as well as differences, in the epidemiology, pathophysiology and response to treatment of functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome. Population-based studies and large case series show that one- to two-thirds of subjects with irritable bowel syndrome have symptoms that overlap with functional dyspepsia.

Symptom analyses have generally failed to support functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome as separate entities. An exaggerated motor response to meals, delayed gastric emptying and abnormal small bowel and colonic transit can all be found in subsets of functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome, and are not exclusive to either condition.

Visceral hypersensitivity is a common feature to both entities and seems unlikely to be site or disease specific. There is good evidence for the post-infectious development of irritable bowel syndrome, and this may also apply in functional dyspepsia.

Study link: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2036.2004.02184.x

• Increased Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux
• Epidemiology of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: a General Population-Based Study in Xi'an of Northwest China
• Impact of Coexisting Irritable Bowel Syndrome on Symptoms and Pathophysiological in Functional Dyspepsia
• Overlapping Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients with Constipation or Diarrhea