gi-hepatology

Kruis Score for Diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Validated clinical scoring system for the diagnosis of IBS in primary and secondary care. Uses symptom items and alarm feature exclusions. Originally described by Kruis et al. 1984. Positive score (above 44) has sensitivity ~75-78% and specificity ~85% for IBS diagnosis. Useful to differentiate IBS from organic GI disease. Has been largely superseded by Rome IV criteria but remains in clinical use.

Abdominal pain, flatulence, or bowel irregularity?*

Stool described as watery, lumpy, or pencil-thin?*

Altered stool frequency (more than 3 per day or less than 3 per week)?*

Symptoms present for more than 2 years?*

Pain relieved by defaecation?*

Visible blood in stool (alarm feature -- negative score)*

Elevated ESR (above 10 mm/hr) or elevated WCC (above 10 x10^9/L) (alarm feature)*

Anaemia (Hb below 12 g/dL women or below 13 g/dL men) (alarm feature)*

Abdominal pain waking patient from sleep (alarm feature)*

References

Kruis W et al. A diagnostic score for the irritable bowel syndrome. Its value in the exclusion of organic disease. Gastroenterology. 1984;87(1):1-7.
NICE NG12. Suspected cancer: recognition and referral. NICE. 2015 (updated 2023). Colorectal cancer section.

Curated clinical cross-links plus same-class fallbacks.

Calculators

Drugs

Pathways

Decision support only — verify against MDCalc, NICE, or your local guideline before clinical use.

References

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