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The gastro-intestinal (GI) system is one of the critical systems within the body and it has a major effect on an individual’s daily activities and quality of life.
It is thought that every year at least 30% of the population in the western world suffers from one or more episodes of common GI conditions1 severe enough to require medical attention.
There is a clear impact on work, relationships, mental health and cost to society. In the U.S. and Europe alone, this translates into nearly 200 million sick days, 72 million visits to physicians, 14 million hospital discharges and nearly 240,000 deaths per year.
More than 200 million people in the U.S. and Europe report having some type of GI disorder and the total cost to third-party payers and the government in the U.S. is estimated to be between USD60 and USD100 billion for drugs, investigations and doctors’ visits.2
1 Burden of GI diseases report, Sonnenberg et al, 2003
2 Burden of digestive diseases, NIH, 2009