Bloating and its association with functional gastrointestinal disorders according to ROME III diagnostic criteria

Results: We recruited 1819 FGID patients. There were 794 male and 1025 female patients; 703 (38.6%) patients were bloaters; 45.1% of bloaters claimed that bloating was their most bothersome symptom; 45.5% of bloaters related their symptoms with a more or less frequent stool and 67.6% felt relief with defecation. By Rome III criteria, majority of bloaters belong to FD (54.5%), IBS (45%), and FAB (20.8%). Overall, 146 (8.0%) patients fulfilled RIII‐FB. There was no significant gender difference in FB‐RIII patients (male 9.3% vs female 7.0%). Taiwan (11.4%) recorded the highest prevalence of RIII‐FB patients, followed closely by India (10.4%) and Korea (10.0%). Only 54.8% of RIII‐FB patients claimed that treatment improved their symptoms.