Gastrointestinal Diseases ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Nurses ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Prevalence

Systematic review and meta-analysis is a research method that tries to provide the best evidence by comprehensive searching, combining of results, and evaluating methodological quality of studies focused on the undetermined clinical question. By keeping credibility of the research process and minimizing potential bias, authors can provide precise pooled estimates. Recently, meta-analysis publications have been increasing and there is a need for critical appraisal of this flow. This review aims to provide an overview of recent trends of meta-analysis in the upper gastrointestinal diseases by quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Gastrointestinal Diseases* ; Meta-Analysis as Topic ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract

Although the function of most organ systems in the body decreases with age, aging has relatively little effect on the function of the gastroenterologic organs. This is probably due to the large functional reserve capacity, such as redundancy in the structure of the organ system and excessive production of hormones and enzymes. Most gastroenterologic disorders developed in younger persons may also develop in the elderly. However, the presentation, treatment and prognosis may be different between elderly patients and younger patients. One important thing is the high prevalence of certain disorders in the elderly. For example, the incidence of peptic ulcer, ischemic complications of vascular abnormalities, drug-induced disorders, malignancies, and some other disorders significantly increases with age. These disorders results either from age-determined changes in the gastroenterologic organs or from extragastroenterologic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, neurologic diseases, and vascular changes. In this paper, an important consideration of common gastroenterologic disorders frequently developed in the Korean elderly is described. In addition, physiologic and pathologic changes of the gastroenterologic organs associated with aging are also discussed.
Aged ; *Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology

Although the function of most organ systems in the body decreases with age, aging has relatively little effect on the function of the gastroenterologic organs. This is probably due to the large functional reserve capacity, such as redundancy in the structure of the organ system and excessive production of hormones and enzymes. Most gastroenterologic disorders developed in younger persons may also develop in the elderly. However, the presentation, treatment and prognosis may be different between elderly patients and younger patients. One important thing is the high prevalence of certain disorders in the elderly. For example, the incidence of peptic ulcer, ischemic complications of vascular abnormalities, drug-induced disorders, malignancies, and some other disorders significantly increases with age. These disorders results either from age-determined changes in the gastroenterologic organs or from extragastroenterologic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, neurologic diseases, and vascular changes. In this paper, an important consideration of common gastroenterologic disorders frequently developed in the Korean elderly is described. In addition, physiologic and pathologic changes of the gastroenterologic organs associated with aging are also discussed.
Aged ; *Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis/epidemiology/therapy ; Humans ; Korea/epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Probiotics are currently under focus for their immune improvement function. Many studies have been performed to assess the potential efficacy of probiotics in allergic disease, viral disease, respiratory disease, as well as gastrointestinal disease. This study performed a systematic review to determine the effects of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane CENTRAL for studies released through June 2011. Two authors independently extracted the data. To assess the risk of bias of included literatures, Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool was used. RESULTS: We identified 10 studies in 7 articles. A total 2,894 participants, 1,588 in the probiotics group and 1,306 in the control group, were included. The effect of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold had a relative risk (RR) of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.00, I2 = 26%). In the subgroup analysis, the RR of administration of probiotics for 3 months or less was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.70 to 0.97). The RR of administration of probiotics over 3 months was 1.00 (95% CI, 0.92 to 1.09). The RR of administration of probiotics without any active intervention (vitamin and mineral) was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.97). CONCLUSION: In this meta-analysis, there was marginal effect of probiotics on the prevention of the common cold. The results implied that probiotics had a modest effect in common cold reduction. The balance of benefit and harms needs to be considered when using probiotics for common cold prevention.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Common Cold ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Probiotics ; Virus Diseases

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disease worldwide. Current guidelines of IBS are mostly based on the western populations and expected to vary in different communities. China has a large population and a vast literature is available on IBS. Due to linguistic variations in the literature, the studies are not widely known and their conclusions thus remain largely obscured to the western medical literature. In this article, we reviewed the published literatures on the investigations of IBS epidemiology, diagnosis, and management in the Chinese population and emphasized the different findings gleaned from the western publications. The detailed literature review will benefit understanding of and promote future study on IBS.
China/epidemiology* ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome/therapy*

OBJECTIVETo determine the prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders in children in Shanghai.

METHODThis study was conducted on the infants and young children who were below 24 months of age recruited consecutively from April 2008 to June 2008 from the 12 communities in Minhang district in Shanghai. The questionnaire on gastrointestinal symptoms and growth was sent to 5030 children < 24 months old. The age distribution of the 5030 children was: < 6 months: 1922 infants (38.2%), 6 - < 12 months: 1933 (38.4%) infants; 12 - < 18 months: 811 (16.1%) children; 18 - < 24 months: 364 (7.2%) children.

RESULTAmong the 5030 children, 1909 had gastrointestinal disorders (38.0%). There was no significant difference in the rate of the disorders between sexes (P = 0.06). Regurgitation was found in 899 (17.9%) infants/children, constipation in 690 (13.7%), 619 (12.3%) infants/children suffered from diarrhea and only 71 (1.4%) suffered from colic. The incidence of gastrointestinal disorders was significantly different among different age groups. The incidence of constipation and regurgitation decreased and the incidence of diarrhea increased with growth (P < 0.01). Infants growth parameters in the group with gastrointestinal disorders especially in those with regurgitation were lower than those without gastrointestinal disorders, the difference is statistically significant. The hospital visit rate of infants with diarrhea was 62.68%, which was higher than the rate of the other three symptoms (4.45% - 16.90%).

CONCLUSIONGastrointestinal disorders are common in infants and young children in Shanghai and may have a great impact on growth. Early management could relieve the disorders and ensure infants to get normal growth and development.

China ; epidemiology ; Colic ; epidemiology ; Diarrhea ; epidemiology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; epidemiology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Male ; Prevalence ; Vomiting ; epidemiology

Functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders are common in the general population. Based on the Rome III classification, these disorders are mutually exclusive disorders keeping the homogeneity of each functional GI disorder in research area. In contrast, many population and clinical studies have reported a considerably high rate of overlap between functional GI disorders. The overlap of functional GI disorders over other intestinal diseases might simply occur by chance due to a highly prevalent disorder. Moreover, functional GI disorders is considered a chronic stable disorder that may wax and wane for several years. However, a recent study about the natural history of functional GI disorders showed substantial transition among functional GI disorders over time. The natural history of functional GI disorders with overlapping other functional GI disorders are still in infancy and better understanding of these will be important in determining the efficacy of future therapeutic interventions.
Dyspepsia/epidemiology/pathology ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices/epidemiology/pathology ; Gastrointestinal Diseases/epidemiology/*pathology ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome/epidemiology/pathology ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVETo investigate the functional dyspepsia (FD) and functional gastrointestinal diseases (FGD) in shift nurses.

METHODS139 shift nurses were investigated while 104 nurses on daytime duty served as control at the same time. Two groups accepted investigation including digestive system questionnaire and the psychological mood table format.

RESULTS78 shift nurses (56.12%) had FD and FGD and the incidence rate was higher than the control group (41 nurses 39.42%; chi2 = 6.633, P < 0.01). In its sub-model, FD, IBS and FD + FGD symptom were present in shift nurses while FD, FD + FGD symptom and IBS predominated in the control group (P > 0.05). The SDS total score, SAS total score, work pressure total score and work tiredness in group A were higher than the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONShift nurses tend to have the functional dyspepsia and functional gastrointestinal diseases, which relates to passive mood work hard and nerve stress.

Adult ; Dyspepsia ; epidemiology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Nurses ; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONTo determine the magnitude of gender difference in paediatric hospital admissions.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe reviewed discharge data of general medical paediatric admissions to a university teaching hospital in Hong Kong from 1984 to 2000. Based on ICD-9 codes, 9 broad categories of disease with related sub-categories were used, namely respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, renal, cardiac, haematological/oncological, neonatal, miscellaneous and social. Data on patients admitted to the haematological, oncological and neonatal wards were excluded from this analysis.

RESULTSThere were 92,332 patients admitted to the general paediatric wards. The 7 leading causes for admission accounted for 62% of all admissions: gastroenteritis (14%), upper respiratory tract infections (12%), asthma/wheezy bronchitis (10%), pneumonia (10%), bronchiolitis (6%), febrile convulsions (7%) and other convulsions (4%). Across almost all categories, there was a consistent excess of males (59.1% of all admissions). The male excess was even more pronounced for urinary tract infections (72%) and nephrotic syndrome (80%). The main sub-categories without this male predominance were accidents, accidental ingestion and social admissions (50% males), failure to thrive (49% males), acyanotic congenital heart disease (48%), endocrine (42%), auto-immune conditions (30%) and attempted suicide (19%).

CONCLUSIONSAlthough male vulnerability to illness has long been recognised, the consistency and magnitude of these gender differentials in admissions was impressive. More vigorous exploration of the underlying mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon is warranted.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; epidemiology ; Heart Diseases ; epidemiology ; Hematologic Diseases ; epidemiology ; Hong Kong ; epidemiology ; Hospitals, University ; utilization ; Humans ; Infant ; Kidney Diseases ; epidemiology ; Male ; Patient Admission ; statistics & numerical data ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Factors