| Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a most commonly functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by alterations in bowel function and accompanied by abdominal pain or discomfort. In developed countries, IBS had high prevalence of nearly 15 - 20%, and also is the most frequent reason for referrals to gastroenterologists, and the diagnosis of IBS has been noted in up to 30%. The prevalence of DBS is tendency to increasing with years and more and more studies have paid attention to it. However the epidemiology data of IBS were mostly referenced from developed countries in European and America. There are very few epidemiological data regarding IBS in China .Scientis still had debates on the criteria of IBS classification. Recent studies showed that different IBS subgroups by bowel predominant habits may be related to different etiologies and characteristics of pathophysiology. Researchers recommended to classify IBS as three groups, diarrhea -predominant DBS, constipation-predominant IBS and altering diarrhea and constipation IBS, but there were few studies on the clinical characters of IBS subgroups.IBS patients could manifest gastrointestinal disorders and accompanied with psychosocial problems. The quality of life consists of all aspects of patients' disorders and can evaluate the health status in detail. It has been suggested that the quality of life are more severe impairment in IBS than any other type of organic GI diseases and functional disorders. So it is essential to evaluate the quality of life in IBS patients.The etiology of IBS was still undetermined, the main mechanisms consists of visceral hypersensitivity, abnormal kinetics of gastrointestinal tract, change of gut-brain peptide and psychological change. There are lack of effective treatments for IBS. The therapeutic aim of medications in IBS may be relate to regulate the colon transiting, reduce the visceral hypersensitivity, and improve the perceptual and pain sensation response in central nerve system. The abnormal of the kinetics of GI was considered as the basic pathophysiological change in IBS, so researchers recommended anti-spasm agents as first line and essential medication. IBS has been considered as "psychological" disease, which was accompanied with 40-50% mental disorders . There were near 80% onset and recurring of IBS was due to psychological factors. In these patients anti-depression agents may be helpful secondary medications to improve the mood and regulate the GI tract physiological response. Some studies showed that combined with anti-spasm and depression agents was more effective than single agents.There are no golden standard criteria of efficacy evaluation in IBS, and the symptom efficacy cannot overall reflect the therapeutic efficacy. With the establishing of the concept of modern medicine, the aim of treatment have been focused on relieving symptoms, modulating physiological adapting and improving the quality of life, instead of controlling symptoms alone. More and more studies have combined the change of quality of life with symptom effectiveness as useful tools to evaluate the efficacy. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) is a well-standardized questionnaire for assessing quality of life of IBS. The Chinese version of SF-36 has well-established validity and reliability in general population in South China of Zhejiang province. However, there were no prior studies that evaluated the implication of the Chinese version of SF-36 in IBS patients.In the present study, we enrolled Roma II -positive IBS consulters by sampling in Zhejiang province to obtain the epidemiological data. And SF-36 quality of life questionnaire were implied to detect health related quality of life in IBS. Part of IBS patients were voluntarily assigned to three different therapies and main outcomes assessment included symptomatic scores and a Chinese version SF-36 .Material and Methods MaterialFrom January 2001 through January 2002 652 consecutive Roma II criteria-positive IBS patients were evalua...
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