ArticleInternational journal of clinical pharmacy2012
Irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders: evaluating self-medication in an Asian community setting.
Article in International journal of clinical pharmacy, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Antispasmolytics in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam: A Delphi Expert Consensus Statement.Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility · 2025Article
- Development and validation of the Health Promoting Behaviour for Bloating (HPB-Bloat) scale.PeerJ · 2021Article
- Use of over-the-counter laxatives by community-dwelling adults to treat and prevent constipation: a national cross-sectional study.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Article
- Gastrointestinal symptoms associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease, and their relapses after treatment with proton pump inhibitors: A systematic review.Electronic physician · 2017Review
- Self-care use patterns in the UK, US, Australia, and Japan: a multinational web-based survey.Integrative medicine research · 2016Article
- Symptom Comparisons Between Asian American and White American Women With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.Gastroenterology nursing : the official journal of the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and AssociatesArticle
- Self-medication of irritable bowel syndrome and dyspepsia: How appropriate is it?Journal of research in pharmacy practiceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGastrointestinal disorders frequently present symptoms which are often self-treated.
objectiveTo record demographic profile of patients visiting community pharmacies for self-treatment with medications for gastrointestinal disorders, the number of these patients who fulfilled irritable bowel syndrome diagnostic criteria, and to judge the appropriateness of their treatment requests.
settingSingapore community pharmacies.
methodThe multicentre study was conducted using ROME III adapted criteria on adults above 18 years who have self-selected medicinal products for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome or gastrointestinal symptoms in the community pharmacy.
resultsAmong those seeking self-medication, 36.8 % fulfilled criteria for irritable bowel syndrome, with irritable bowel syndrome-mixed (16.3 %) being the most prevalent subtype. For patients not fulfilling criteria for irritable bowel syndrome diagnosis, rates for other functional gastrointestinal disorders were constipation (20.5 %), dyspepsia (16.3 %), gastroesophageal reflux disease (12.1 %), diarrhoea (8.9 %), bloating (4.2 %), and heartburn (3.2 %). There were more females with gastrointestinal complaints. Overall, 21.6 % of the total participants had recently sought medical attention for their gastrointestinal complaint. 20 % of patients selected inappropriate medication for their gastrointestinal complaints, and the antacids class had the highest incidence of inappropriate medication use. Possible co-existing relationships were seen between gastroesophageal reflux disease with dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome with gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome with dyspepsia, and diarrhoea with constipation.
conclusionPatients who fulfilled criteria for irritable bowel syndrome had a high tendency to self-treat their gastrointestinal symptoms. Constipation complaints were also common. Around one in five patients self-medicated gastrointestinal symptoms inappropriately, with antacids being the most common.
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