The study cohorts
| First (explorative) cohort | Second cohort | Study population* | ||||
| IBS patients | Controls | IBS patients | Controls | IBS patients | Controls | |
| Participants | 22 | 14 | 40 | 17 | 62 | 31 |
| Females | 15 (68%) | 8 (57%) | 33 (83%) | 10 (59%) | 48 (77%) | 18 (58%) |
| Median age (range) | 29 (22–55) | 29 (23–49) | 28 (20–62) | 27 (19–55) | 28 (20–62) | 29 (19–55) |
| IBS-D | 10 (45%) | NA | 15 (38%) | NA | 25 (40%) | NA |
| IBS-C | 5 (23%) | NA | 8 (20%) | NA | 13 (21%) | NA |
| IBS-M | 5 (23%) | NA | 14 (35%) | NA | 19 (31%) | NA |
| IBS-U | 2 (9%) | NA | 3 (8%) | NA | 5 (8%) | NA |
| Mucus samples analysed by proteomics | 22 (100%) | 14 (100%) | 3 (8%) | 1 (6%) | 25 (40%) | 15 (48%) |
| Tissue sections analysed by immunofluorescence | 19 (86%) | 12 (86%) | 37 (93%) | 16 (94%) | 56 (90%) | 28 (90%) |
| Biopsies analysed by real-time PCR | 18 (82%) | 9 (64%) | 36 (90%) | 16 (94%) | 54 (87%) | 25 (81%) |
| Patients treated with metronidazole | 3 (14%) | 0 | 1 (3%) | 0 | 4 (6%) | 0 |
*Entire study population (both cohorts).
IBS-C, IBS with constipation; IBS-D, IBS with diarrhoea; IBS-M, IBS with mixed bowel habits; IBS-U, unsubtyped IBS without diarrhoea or constipation; NA, not applicable.