Table 1 Characteristics of the sample (n = 49)
Sex | |
Male | 22 |
Female | 27 |
Age (yrs, mean ± SD) | 38 ±15 |
Race | |
Japanese | 49 |
Others | 0 |
Marital status | |
Single living alone | 10 |
Single living with a partner | 14 |
Married | 24 |
Divorced | 1 |
Education | |
8th grade or less | 3 |
Some high school | 1 |
High school graduate | 19 |
Some college or technical school | 8 |
College graduate | 18 |
Diagnosis by Rome II criteria | |
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) | 30 |
IBS subtypes of bowel habit | |
IBS with constipation (IBS-C) | 6 |
IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D) | 14 |
Mixed or unspecified IBS | 10 |
Other functional bowel disorders (FBD) | 19 |
Classification of symptom severity by IBSSI | |
Mild | 15 |
Moderate | 22 |
Severe | 12 |