Epidemiological trends of functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are highly prevalent in the population and in primary and secondary care centers. Most likely they have been highly prevalent for centuries but in the past the lack of appropriate diagnostic measures did not enable the precise exclusion of structural causes of symptoms. In recent decades the prevalence rates of Helicobacter pylori has clearly decreased. As a result the incidence of H. pylori-related structural diseases in the upper gut decreased. Thus the relative proportion of functional gastrointestinal disorders has increased and may result in the overall impression that the prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders has increased. Thus, the available data do not provide evidence that the prevalence of these disorders has changed in recent decades. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel