Alimentary TractSymptoms associated with hypersensitivity to gastric distention in functional dyspepsia☆
Section snippets
Study subjects
Eighty healthy controls (52 men; age, 19–31 years; mean age, 24.7 ± 2.3 years) and 160 patients with functional dyspepsia (51 men; age, 16–79 years; mean age, 40.1 ± 13.9 years) participated in this study. None of the healthy subjects had symptoms or a history of gastrointestinal disease or drug allergies, nor were they taking any medication.
The patients presented to the outpatient clinic because of meal-related epigastric symptoms, and all underwent careful history taking and clinical
Characteristics of patients with functional dyspepsia
Patients were significantly older than healthy subjects, and a higher proportion of the patients were female (P < 0.01). Dyspeptic symptoms were present for 21 ± 7 months. Table 1 summarizes the grading of dyspeptic symptoms in the patient group.Empty Cell 0 (Absent) 1 (Mild) 2 (Relevant) 3 (Severe) Postprandial fullness 16 (10) 10 (6) 43 (27) 91 (57) Bloating 31 (19) 9 (6) 48 (30) 72 (45) Epigastric pain 49 (31) 11 (7)
Discussion
Visceral hypersensitivity has been put forward as a unifying pathophysiological concept that may underlie several functional gastrointestinal disorders.8, 9 Several studies have clearly established that, as a group, patients with functional dyspepsia display enhanced sensitivity to gastric distention.3, 5, 6, 10, 11 However, in these studies, different approaches to calculate sensitivity to gastric distention and to determine the range of normality have been used.3, 5, 6, 10, 11 By consequence,
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Address requests for reprints to: Jan Tack, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. e-mail: [email protected]; fax: (32) 16-34-44-19.