KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES AND ATTITUDES OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS TOWARDS IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder that has colossal impact on the quality of life while the patient’s views have been explored in detail in a large no. of studies the opinions of the general physicians need to explored as they are primary route of referral to medical specialists

Objective: To assess knowledge, practices and attitudes of general practitioners towards irritable bowel syndrome

Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Peshawar after the approval of research proposal by research committee of MMC General Hospital Peshawar 15^th January 2023 t0 15^th June 2023  .The inclusion criteria was general practitioners working in different clinics and hospitals The medical specialists and gastroenterologists were excluded from the study Total sample size was 100  with non-probability convenient sampling as the technique . The participants were asked to fill a questionnaire after explaining the pros and con the study. The data analysis was done by SPSS version 22.  The frequencies and percentages were applied for categorical data where as Mean and SD were applied for quantitative data. The Chi Square test was applied taking a p value of 0.05 or less as significant

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 38 years with equal male to female ratio .58% of the general practitioners were from urban areas while rest of them were from rural settings. The knowledge questions were assessed by true, false and don’t know. Regarding IBS a hereditary disease 44% admitted it to be true, 25% false and 31% don’t know. IBS affects only women with rue responses 48%,32% false and 20% saying don’t know. IBS is a life-threatening disease 51% said to be true.27% false and 22%  don’t know. IBS symptoms affects the patients daily life with true responses about 43%, false 34% and 23% don’t know . Regarding practices and answering Do you take your medications prescribed for IBS regularly? 58% said yes and 42% said No, Do you avoid gluten containing products (wheat ,barley and rye) containing food products that might worsen your symptoms? 65% Yes and 35% No, Do you perform yoga 48% yes and 52% No. The responses of the participants in terms of their attitudes towards IBS can be seen in tables below. Significant association for responses of the participants for After following advice from your physician regarding diet, life style, and medications, do you feel that your daily life is less affected now with a p value of 0.03

Conclusion: This study concluded that general practitioners had satisfactory level of awareness about the disease and that is a good omen for appropriate referral and management by the trained physicians and experts in the field