BACKGROUND The health-related quality of life is impaired in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders seen in referral centres. AIM To determine whether the health-related quality of life is impaired in subjects with functional disorders in the community and whether any differences can be explained by psychological co-morbidity. METHODS In a population-based, nested, case-control...

In our everyday clinical practice, we are faced with patients worried about their chronic stomach pain, of which a substantial proportion have functional dyspepsia. Prevalence of dyspepsia is approximately 25% in the United States and other western countries.1,2 Although, at first glance, dyspepsia appears to be an easily solvable problem it has different pathophysiological mechanisms. The puta...

BACKGROUND Abnormal visceral mechanosensory and vagal function may play a role in the development of functional gastrointestinal disorders. AIMS To assess whether vagal efferent and afferent function is linked with small intestinal mechanosensory function. METHODS In seven patients with functional dyspepsia, six patients with a history of Billroth I gastrectomy and/or vagotomy, and seven he...

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The diagnosis of functional dyspepsia (FD) is challenging since it depends largely on symptoms which are often heterogeneous and overlapping. This is particularly so in Asia with many different cultures and languages. Symptom-based diagnosis of FD based on Rome III criteria has not been fully validated and it may not be suitable in some Asian populations. Clinicians often assume that investigat...

BACKGROUND It is important to know the causes of dyspepsia to establish the therapeutic approach. Dyspepsia is a frequent syndrome in our country, where there are restrictions to endoscopy and high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. This study aimed to assess the endoscopic findings of the syndrome, in an outpatient screening clinic of a tertiary hospital in São Paulo. M...

BACKGROUNDS Dyspepsia is a condition that affects 25% of the U.S. population, and, when associated with pyrosis, its prevalence reaches 40%. Patients with chronic renal insufficiency not only present higher circulating levels of gastrin and gastric dysmotilty, but also make use of a great amount of drugs for the treatment of their comorbidities. This situation increases the chances of developin...

Volume 70, Number 1 www.aafp.org/afp American Family Physician 107 F amily physicians frequently encounter patients with dyspepsia. An organic cause, such as duodenal ulcer, is found in only about 40 percent of these patients.1 Hence, dyspepsia is considered to be functional, or idiopathic, in as many as 60 percent of patients (Table 1).2-4 The Rome II criteria provide an updated definition of ...

OBJECTIVE The study begins by analysing the psychometric properties of the Nepean Dyspepsia Index-Short Form (NDI-SF), before moving on to study quality of life in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) and the psychopathological features that underlie the disorder in three groups of subjects: patients with eating disorders (ED), psychiatric patients (non-ED), and a group of students, all of w...