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Walkerton Health Study (post-infectious IBS)
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Design notes & limitations. One of the strongest post-infectious cohorts in the database: a whole-community denominator with a within-town unexposed comparator, quantifying post-infectious IBS after bacterial gastroenteritis (36.2% after clinically suspected GE vs 10.1% without). Non-fatigue outcome (IBS), broadening the syndrome coverage. Exposure was ascertained by self-reported acute illness rather than culture, the main limitation.
Identity & trigger
- Cohort id
walkerton-health-study- Aliases
- WHS
- Outbreak / event
- Walkerton waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak, May 2000 (Ontario, Canada)
- Pathogen
- Campylobacter jejuni / E. coli O157:H7 (Walkerton outbreak) (Mixed)
- Exposure ascertainment
- clinical diagnosis
Design
- Design
- Retrospective cohort
- Denominator defined
- Yes
- Denominator method
- Adult Walkerton residents with no prior chronic GI disorder, classified by whether they had acute gastroenteritis during the May 2000 municipal water contamination; residents without acute GE form the unexposed comparison.
- Recruitment
- community
- Time zero
- May 2000 waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak (Campylobacter jejuni / E. coli O157:H7) (month)
- Control group
- Unexposed (unmatched)
Size & attrition
- Enrolled
- 2069
- Analysed / enrolled
- 2069/2069 (100%)
- Max follow-up (months)
- 96
Biospecimens
- Specimens
- No
- Types
- none
- Acute-phase specimens
- No
- Biobank
- N/A
- External access
- Unknown
Observations (1)
Symptoms
36.2% Proportion
- Measure
- Irritable bowel syndrome (post-infectious) sym:irritable-bowel-syndrome
- As worded
- “post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome 2 years after outbreak in those with clinically suspected gastroenteritis vs those without acute gastroenteritis”
- Population
- whole cohort · denominator Unclear · N=measured, not reported
- Timing
- 24 mo (12-24 mo) · ref Not reported
- Method
- Unclear · Rome criteria for irritable bowel syndrome
- Comparator
- Unexposed (unmatched): 10.1%
- Comparability signature
- 42693faea9 — measure sym:irritable-bowel-syndrome · Unclear · ref Not reported · denom Unclear · 12-24 mo · Proportion
- Provenance
- Results/Abstract (36.2% with suspected GE vs 10.1% without) · Manual · verified OSMF research-tracker (web-verified against source) on 2026-07-20
Publications
- Marshall JK, Thabane M, Garg AX, et al. (Walkerton Health Study Investigators) (2006). Incidence and epidemiology of irritable bowel syndrome after a large waterborne outbreak of bacterial dysentery. Gastroenterology. PMID 16890598 · DOI 10.1053/j.gastro.2006.05.053 primary
Provenance & verification
- Registration
- n/r
- Funders
- Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Related cohorts
- none
- Symptom-inventory scope
- Single domain
- Last verified
- 2026-07-20 — OSMF research-tracker (web-verified against source)