Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most commonly diagnosed functional gastrointestinal disorders. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and its association with stress have not been researched in regards to foreign medical students in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

To establish the prevalence of IBS in foreign medical school students and the relationship with stress.

This observational case-controlled study was carried out in “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The sample size was 102, and the data was collected using an online self-report questionnaire. The ‘Rome 3 criteria’ was used to diagnose IBS and ‘Stressful Life Events Check-list’ was used to measure levels of stress.

The prevalence of IBS was 24.5%, with females having higher rates (34%) compared to males (16.4%). The types of IBS were IBS-M (mixed form) 8.8%, IBS-D (diarrhoea dominant) 6.9%, IBS-C (constipation dominant) 5.9% and IBS-U (undefined) 2.9%. Students with IBS reported higher social stress compared to students without IBS.

More efforts should be made to combat stress that medical students experience in order to reduce the number of IBS cases. This may involve an increased role of the medical school to develop initiatives and support, with the aim of helping medical school students better cope with stress and stressful events.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.