Table 1.

Differences in clinical history between patients with irritable bowel syndrome and those with microscopic colitis

Clinical history variable	Irritable bowel syndrome	Microscopic colitis
First occurrence of disease	Usually before 50 years of age	Usually after 50 years of age
Stool consistency	Soft‒variable‒hard	Watery/soft
Abdominal pain/discomfort	Obligatory	Variable
Nocturnal diarrhoea	Very unlikely	Possible
Feeling of incomplete bowel evacuation	Common	No
Weight loss	Rare	Common
Faecal incontinence	Rare	Common
Feeling of fullness/bloating	Common	Rare
Accompanying autoimmune disease	Rare	Common