Irritable bowel syndrome, also known as IBS, used to be a rare condition, but - due to industrialization and urbanization - it is now one of the most common disorders in the world. The term is even used figuratively, in a derogatory sense.
The numbers of new reported cases of irritable bowel syndrome kept increasing into the 21st century when they reached almost epidemic proportions. As the amount of information available on the Internet exploded, so did the web searches about IBS. But then the disorder "came out of the closet", and google searches for "irritable bowel syndrome" started to dwindle, reaching a quarter of what they used to be at the peak. This downtrend mirrored ambulatory data (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey) showing that by 2010, the rate of IBS-related visits decreased roughly by 37%.
Is IBS no longer a problem?
The numbers of new reported cases of irritable bowel syndrome kept increasing into the 21st century when they reached almost epidemic proportions. As the amount of information available on the Internet exploded, so did the web searches about IBS. But then the disorder "came out of the closet", and google searches for "irritable bowel syndrome" started to dwindle, reaching a quarter of what they used to be at the peak. This downtrend mirrored ambulatory data (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey) showing that by 2010, the rate of IBS-related visits decreased roughly by 37%.
Is IBS no longer a problem?
