Prevalence of Fibromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome and its association with studying medicine, a cross-sectional study in Al-Baath University, Syria

Background The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence rate of Fibromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome among Al-Baath University students and find out whether studying medicine has an association with a higher prevalence rate. Methods The participants of this observational cross-sectional study were students aged 18 to 30 years from Al-Baath University. A structured self-estimated electronic questionnaire developed by Google Forms was distributed using social media platforms from 15 February to 15 March, 2023. We used The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2016 and Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST) criteria to assess the prevalence rate of Fibromyalgia. We used The ROME IV criteria to asses Irritable Bowel Syndrome prevalence rate. Results The final sample size was 800 individuals. The prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in the study population was 26.8%. Overall, IBS-Constipation was the most common subtype and the prevalence rate was higher among medical students (14%) compared to other colleges (12.8%) (p = 0.002). The difference in Irritable Bowel Syndrome prevalence between males and females was (9.3% vs 17.5%, p = 0.283), but this did not reach the statistical significance. The prevalence of Fibromyalgia according to The American college of Rheumatology in the study population was 3.6%. Females had higher prevalence rate than males (3.1% vs 0.5%, p = 0.007). The prevalence of Fibromyalgia was also higher in other colleges compared to medicine (2.3% vs 1.4%, p = 0.547), but this did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion We found an increased prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among medical students. The prevalence of FM did not show any relation to studying medicine. We recommend additional prospective studies to assess whether studying medicine could be a risk factor for these disorders or not.