Prevalence of IBS and its relationship to vitamin D deficiency in Al- Nasiriyah city, Iraq

Objective: To learn how common irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is in the city of Al-Nasiriyah and whether or not this disorder is linked to a lack of vitamin D. Methodology: This cross-sectional study included 396 patients based on Raisoft online application's population size. Patients were randomly enrolled from July to December 2022 at three outpatient clinics in various city quarters. Study factors were age (years), gender, family history of IBS, smoking, place of residence, marital status and vitamin D level. Results: We found that 56.06% patients had deficiency of vitamin D while 39.65% had insufficiency of vitamin D. We noted that 18.18% had mixed IBS while 15.15% had unclassified IBS,13.38% had constipation and only 7.58 had diarrhea. There was significant association between Vitamin D level and place of living. Females had significant deficiency in vitamin D level (59.6%) and 50.7% and 45.1% cases of IBD had deficient and insufficient, respectively. Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is common. Most urban patients’ features were mixed IBS, unclassified IBS, or constipation, and vitamin D insufficiency. Vitamin D insufficiency was higher in women. Most IBS patients were deficient or insufficient.