Irritable bowel syndrome has emerged from relative obscurity to become widely recognised as the cause of considerable morbidity, reduction in quality of life and costs to patients and health services. This review of the current state of knowledge of the condition will act as a ready source of reference to both generalists and specialists and will also widen the reader's understanding of some of the patient's experience of functional somatic disorders.

Roger Jones

1. Introduction 2. Irritable bowel syndrome: history and disease definition 3. Epidemiology 4. Psychosocial factors 5. Causes 6. Clinical presentations 7. Management 8. Drug therapy 9. Non-drug therapy