Published online Aug 28, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i32.5357
Revised: June 15, 2013
Accepted: July 18, 2013
Published online: August 28, 2013
Processing time: 167 Days and 2.6 Hours
AIM: To study the evolution of gastrointestinal symptoms and associated factors in Chinese patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).
METHODS: From June 2008 to November 2009, a total of 1049 patients with FD (65.3% female, mean age 42.80 ± 11.64 years) who visited the departments of gastroenterology in Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xi’an, China were referred for this study. All of the patients fulfilled the Rome III criteria for FD. Baseline demographic data, dyspepsia symptoms, anxiety, depression, sleep disorder, and drug treatment were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Patients completed questionnaires at baseline and after 1, 3, 6 and 12 mo follow-up. Comparison of dyspepsia symptoms between baseline and after follow-up was explored using multivariate analysis of variance of repeated measuring. Multiple linear regression was done to examine factors associated with outcome, both longitudinally and horizontally.
RESULTS: Nine hundred and forty-three patients (89.9% of the original population) completed all four follow-ups. The average duration of follow-up was 12.24 ± 0.59 mo. During 1-year follow-up, the mean dyspeptic symptom score (DSS) in FD patients showed a significant gradually reduced trend (P < 0.001), and similar differences were found for all individual symptoms (P < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that sex (P < 0.001), anxiety (P = 0.018), sleep disorder at 1-year follow-up (P = 0.019), weight loss (P < 0.001), consulting a physician (P < 0.001), and prokinetic use during 1-year follow-up (P = 0.035) were horizontally associated with DSS at 1-year follow-up. No relationship was found longitudinally between DSS at 1-year follow-up and patient characteristics at baseline.
CONCLUSION: Female sex, anxiety, and sleep disorder, weight loss, consulting a physician and prokinetic use during 1-year follow-up were associated with outcome of FD.
Core tip: This is a prospective study with Chinese patients to explore the clinical course of functional dyspepsia (FD), and evaluate the potential risk factors associated with it, using the Rome III criteria both longitudinally and horizontally. The sample size in this study was large and there was a good response rate. The mean dyspepsia symptom score for both total and individual symptoms showed a significant gradually reduced trend. Female sex, anxiety, and sleep disorder, weight loss, consulting a physician and prokinetic use during 1-year follow-up were associated with the outcome of FD.