New research links certain DNA variants to increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in women. The findings might help explain why IBS is more common in women than in men.

“Although we cannot point to individual genes at this early stage, we believe these results are exciting, as they converge with existing data on female preponderance and a role of sex-hormones in IBS,” Mauro D’Amato, PhD, visiting professor in the department of medicine at Karolinska Institutet, said in a press release.