Investigation on psychological status and its relationship with Helicobacter pylori infection in servicemen from a Chinese army unit / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To understand the mental health status of officers and soldiers (OSs) in a Chinese army unit,and analyze its relationship with Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection.Methods Cross sectional extraction of 1293 male soldiers from a certain unit of Chinese army in September 2015,aged 17-37 years old,average age 20.5 ± 3.2.Using the symptom self rating scale (SCL-90) to conduct a psychological evaluation,comparison between the evaluation results and the Chinese military norm was conducted to understand the mental health status of OSs in the unit.13C-urea breath test was used to detect H.pylori infection,and the relationship between the positivity rate of various factors,the SCL-90 score and H.pylori infection were analyzed.Ninety OSs who had desire to eradicate H.pylori serves as the experimental group,and 90 H.pylori-infected OSs as control group.The experimental group received quadruple-drug eradication therapy,control group received no drug treatment.SCL-90 scores before and after the treatment were compared,and SCL-90 scores after treatment in the experimental group and those in the control group were also compared for analyzing the relationship between the OSs psychological status and H.pylori infection.Results The SCL-90 score of the OSs was lower than the norm of Chinese army,and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The psychological screening positive rate was higher in H.pylori-positive OSs than H.pylori-negative those and the positive rates of psychological screening factors somatization,interpersonal sensitivity,hostility and paranoid were higher in H.pylori-positive OSs than in H.Pylorinegative those,and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).After the eradication of H.pylori in the experimental group these factor scores were lower than those before eradication.Compared with control group SCL-90 scores,soldiers somatization,interpersonal sensitivity,anxiety,hostility,paranoid factor score in experimental group after treatment were lower,the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion The mental health is better in OSs in this unit,the negative mental status is obvious in H.pylori-infected OSs than in H.pylori-negative those,and to eradicate H.pylori can improve their psychological state.