Different faces of gastroparesis

Table 1 Open-ended questions

How does the stomach problem affect your life?

How has gastroparesis affected your relationships with family and friends?

How has gastroparesis affected your ability to work and your professional life?

What do you worry about when you think about your stomach problem?

What symptom or problem related to your gastroparesis disturbs you the most?

What helped you the most in the treatment of your stomach problem?

What do you know and understand about your stomach problem?

Patients are often left with questions about their condition. What do you want to know about your disease?

What were your experiences as a patient with gastroparesis when you met physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers?

What can we do to better serve patients with your condition?

Table 2 Baseline patient characteristics n (%)

Variable	All patients	Idiopathic gastroparesis	Diabetic gastroparesis	Connective tissue disease
Women	55 (80)	29 (90)	11 (55)	8 (100)
Age (yr)	42.4 ± 1.9	38.1 ± 2.8b	46.0 ± 2.9	57 ± 2.2
Education
High school	38	20	8	5
Bachelor	9	5	1	1
Graduate	8	4	2	2
Employed	15 (27)	11 (38)	3 (27)	0
Annual household income ($)
< 20 000	20	10	7	0
20 000-39 000	13	8	2	2
40 000-59 000	8	5	0	2
60 000-79 000	7	3	0	2
> 80 000	7	3	2	2
Symptom duration (mo)	32 ± 4	24.2 ± 4.2	44 ± 15	25.8 ± 6.7
Weight loss (pounds)	3.7 ± 1.6	4.5 ± 2.6	2.9 ± 2.7	7.1 ± 3.6

^bP < 0.01 vs patients with gastroparesis due to connective tissue disease.

Table 3 Treatment of gastroparesis

Variable	All patients	Idiopathic gastroparesis	Diabetic gastroparesis	Connective tissue disease
Prokinetics
Metoclopramide	25	11	7	4
Erythromycin	7	4	2	1
Other	4	1		3
Antiemetics
Phenothiazine	21	10	5	2
Ondansetron	20	12	4	1
Scopolamine	6	3	2
Meclizine	2	1	1
Dronabinol	5	3
Antidepressives
TCA	3	1	1
SSRI	15	4	5	4
Benzodiazepines	16	10	3	1
Opioids (daily)	17	7	5	1
Nutritional support
Jejunostomy	8	1	4
TPN	3	2		1

TCA: Tricyclic antidepressant; SSRI: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; TPN: Total parenteral nutrition.

Table 4 Survey data

Variable	All patients	Idiopathic gastroparesis	Diabetic gastroparesis	Connective tissue disease
GCSI	25.7 ± 1.4	24.6 ± 2.0	30.7 ± 2.3	20.8 ± 2.5
HADS
Anxiety	8.3 ± 0.6	8.6 ± 0.9	9.3 ± 1.1	6.6 ± 1.7
Depression	7.7 ± 0.7	7.1 ± 1.1	9.9 ± 1.2	6.3 ± 1.5
SF-12
PHS	31.5 ± 1.4	33.3 ± 2.0	28.7 ± 2.8	31.7 ± 3.6
MHS	41.7 ± 1.6	41.4 ± 2.1	37.7 ± 3.5	47.7 ± 4.1

GCSI: Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index; HADS: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SF-12: Short Form 12; PHS: Physical health factor score; MHS: Mental health factor score.

Table 5 Univariate correlation analysis

Variable	Spearman coefficient	P
GCSI
SF-12 PHS	-0.56	0.0001
SF-12 MHS	-0.212	0.12
HADS-anxiety	0.17	0.22
HADS-depression	0.33	0.02
T-1/2	0.05	0.82
Symptom duration	-0.08	0.56
Age	-0.08	0.55
PHS
GCSI-sub score nausea	-0.52	0.0001
GCSI-sub score fullness	-0.4	0.003
GCSI-sub score bloating	-0.4	0.003
GCSI-sub score pain	-0.35	0.01
HADS-depression	-0.44	0.001