Evaluating the association of childhood sexual abuse with the development of irritable bowel syndrome later in life - a systematic review Authors Muhammad Umer Junaid Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Asad Saulat Fatimi Third Year MBBS Student, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4869-0683 Hareem Rauf Final Year MBBS Student, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Muhammad Taha Nasim Third Year MBBS Student, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Kinza Jawed Third Year MBBS Student, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Kishwar Enam Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan DOI: https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.9542 Keywords: Child sexual abuse, Irritable bowel syndrome, Systematic review Abstract Objective: To review available medical literature to elucidate the association between childhood sexual abuse and the development of irritable bowel syndrome later in life. Method: This systematic review was conducted from January to August 2022 and comprised a literature search on Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for relevant studies published between 2001 and 2021. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to determine the quality of the studies. Data on the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome were meta-analysed using a Mantel-Haenszel random-effects model in RevMan 5.4.1. Results: Of the 7 observational studies analyzed in detail, 5 (71.4%) had a case-control design, and 2 (28.6%) were cross-sectional studies. Overall, there were 3156 subjects. The prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in the childhood sexual abuse group was 51.86% (334/644), while it was 36.74% (923/2512) in the non-childhood sexual abuse group. The pooled odds ratio, indicating the association between childhood sexual abuse and irritable bowel syndrome, was 1.87 (95% confidence interval: 1.56-2.26). The study quality was rated as good in 3 (42.8%) cases, fair in 3 (42.8%), and poor in 1 (14.3%). Conclusion: Childhood sexual abuse was found to be significantly associated with the development of irritable bowel syndrome later in life, further strengthening the argument that childhood sexual abuse can lead to long-term detriments extending into adulthood. However, there was no existing literature found that stratified other aspects of irritable bowel syndrome, including symptom severity and childhood sexual abuse being the exclusive cause of irritable bowel syndrome. Downloads Full Text Article Published 2024-04-22 How to Cite Muhammad Umer Junaid, Asad Saulat Fatimi, Hareem Rauf, Muhammad Taha Nasim, Jawed, K., & Kishwar Enam. (2024). Evaluating the association of childhood sexual abuse with the development of irritable bowel syndrome later in life - a systematic review. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 74(5), 939–945. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.9542 More Citation Formats ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 74 No. 5 (2024): MAY Section SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS License Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.