Skip to main content
editorial
. 2022 Apr 20;6(4):229–230. doi: 10.1002/jgh3.12741

Table 1.

Rome III versus Rome IV irritable bowel syndrome diagnostic criteria

Rome III 8 Rome IV 6 Main differences
Recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort at least 3 days per month in the last 3 months associated with two or more of the following:

  1. Improvement with defecation

  2. Onset associated with a change in frequency of stool

  3. 3. Onset associated with a change in form (appearance) of stool

 Recurrent abdominal pain, on average, at least 1 day per week in the last 3 months, associated with two or more of the following criteria:

  1. Related to defecation

  2. Associated with a change in frequency of stool

  3. Associated with a change in form (appearance) of stool

  1. Abdominal discomfort is removed from the diagnostic criteria in Rome IV.

  2. Frequency of abdominal pain was changed.

  3. Rome IV requires the abdominal pain to be related to defecation, instead of improved with defecation

  4. To be categorized into a subtype in Rome IV, only the predominant bowel habits of patients on the days of abnormal bowel movements should be taken into consideration.