. Exposure to severe wartime conditions in early life is associated with an increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome: a population-based cohort study

The authors assessed the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using the Rome II questionnaire among 816 men and women (aged 58 /-1 years) who were born as term singletons in Wilhelmina Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands around the time of World War II. Of a total of 816 participants, 9.6% (n=78, 52F) met the criteria for IBS. Exposure to severe wartime conditions in utero was not associated with the prevalence of IBS in adulthood (8.3%). Early-life exposure to severe wartime conditions was associated with an increased prevalence of IBS. The prevalence of IBS among individuals exposed up to 0.5 years of age, 1 year of age, and 1.5 years of age was 8.1%, 12.5%, and 15.3%, respectively. The increased IBS prevalence was not associated with an increased stress response. These data indicate that exposure to severe wartime conditions in early life is associated with an increased risk of developing IBS. To what extent this is attributable to the stressful environment of war, to severe undernutrition, or to the increased prevalence of infectious diseases is, however, unclear.