Information- and Health-care Seeking Behaviors in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common and clinically heterogeneous gastrointestinal disorder that can be divided into 4 subtypes: IBS with constipation (IBS-C), IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), IBS with mixed bowel habits, and unclassified IBS. IBS decreases quality of life1 and imposes a substantial economic burden on the healthcare system.2 To develop efficient approaches to address the individual needs of IBS patients while minimizing healthcare resource overutilization, it is important to identify the factors that drive patients to seek care, to clarify the burden associated with distinct IBS subtypes, and to be aware of the resources from which IBS patients seek health-related information. We aimed to compare healthcare and information seeking between individuals with IBS-C and IBS-D.