It is common that Hong Kong people might have experiences of disordered defecation with unknown reason, such as diarrhea and constipation. It is also easy to observe that abdominal discomforts often come along with stress. Emotion disturbance and stress might affect our intestinal functions.
The alarm system of our body has been already turned on and expressed as features of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Professor Siu-man Ng, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, points out that the etiology of IBS is not entirely clear.
The cause might be related to intestinal abnormality, for examples, congenital visceral hypersensitivity and long-term stress. It induces a series of symptoms that triggering by the visceral functional disorder. The global prevalence of IBS is 13.5. It is estimated that the point prevalence of IBS among adults in Hong Kong is about 7%. It is indicated that there is a growing tendency in Asian society.