Abstract

Background: Medical students, experiencing significant academic and psychological stress, exhibit heightened vulnerability to functional gastrointestinal disorders, particularly irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, research linking specific IBS symptoms (e.g., bloating, constipation, abdominal pain frequency) to cognitive deficits like memory impairment is limited, and studies often overlook specialized high-stress populations
such as medical students.
Subject and Method: This comparative cross-sectional study assessed depressive symptom severity and memory impairment in 377 undergraduate medical students in Saudi Arabia, comparing those with IBS (diagnosed via Rome IV criteria) to healthy controls. Participants were recruited via non-probability convenience sampling. Depression was measured using the beck depression inventory, and memory was evaluated using prospective and retrospective memory questionnaires.
Results: Among 375 valid responses, 35% met IBS criteria. A significant association was found between depression levels and IBS status (p < 0.001) and between depression levels and memory function (p < 0.001). However, no significant direct association existed between IBS diagnosis and memory function (p = 0.3). After adjusting for depression, age, and gender, IBS diagnosis remained non-significantly associated with memory impairment (Beta: -0.53; 95% CI: -1.2, 0.13; p > 0.05).
Conclusion: This study confirms associations between IBS and depression, and between depression and memory dysfunction in medical students, but finds no evidence of a direct IBS-memory link. Future research should involve larger, multi-institutional cohorts.

Key words: IBS, memory, depression, medical students.