The current review includes all the available original data on irritable bowel syndrome in Mexico. Data were organized in items of interest such as prevalence and gender distribution, health care utilization, psychosocial factors, diagnostic criteria, bowel habit predominance, physiological studies, clinical trials and quality of life assessment. After a systematic review, a total of 18 papers were included, the majority published between 1996 and 2000. We can conclude that irritable bowel syndrome in Mexico is similar to that reported in the international literature with regard to the areas analyzed, and therefore it is suitable to run clinical trials with similar outcomes as has been done in other populations.

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