A considerable proportion of individuals experiencing acute gastroenteritis develop post-infection irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia, according to a review published in Gut.

Dr Serena Porcari, from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or functional dyspepsia (FD) after acute gastroenteritis using data from observational studies recruiting 50 or more adults.

Forty-seven studies were eligible, with a total of 28,170 individuals.

The researchers found that the overall prevalence of post-infection IBS was 14.5% and the prevalence of post-infection FD was 12.7%.