Exploring the agreement between diagnostic criteria for IBS in primary care in Greece
2008

Agreement Between IBS Diagnostic Criteria in Greece

Sample size: 123 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Anastasiou Foteini, Mouzas Ioannis A, Moschandreas Joanna, Kouroumalis Elias, Lionis Christos

Primary Institution: University of Crete

Hypothesis

To assess the diagnostic agreement between older and new criteria for IBS in primary care in Greece.

Conclusion

International diagnostic criteria for IBS show low agreement in Greek primary care, with the newest criteria performing worse than expected.

Supporting Evidence

  • The agreement of Rome III with Manning criteria was poor (kappa = 0.25).
  • Moderate agreement was found between the Rome II and III criteria (kappa = 0.51).
  • High co-morbidity with GERD like symptoms was noted in 46% of participants.

Takeaway

Doctors in rural Greece have a hard time using complicated IBS diagnosis rules, which makes it tough to figure out who really has IBS.

Methodology

Medical records were reviewed, and eligible IBS patients were invited for structured interviews to assess diagnostic agreement.

Potential Biases

Potential selection bias due to high numbers of excluded or non-participating patients.

Limitations

The study relied on retrospective data, had poor demographic data entries, and a long interval between diagnosis and interview.

Participant Demographics

Mostly women older than 70, with a median age of 71.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.039

Confidence Interval

95% CI: 58%–80%

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1756-0500-1-127

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