The psychopathology of duodenal ulcer compared with functional dyspepsia: a case-control study.

This is a prospective study of the psychiatric morbidity in 80 patients with duodenal ulcer, 80 with functional dyspepsia and 80 healthy controls; matched for age, sex and marital status. A semi structured psychiatric interview and clinical mental state examination were used in the psychiatric assessment of the patients and controls. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to DSM3-R. A modified version of Life Events Scale by Tennant and Andrews was used in the assessment of life events in relation to psychiatric illness. Psychiatric illness was significantly more in the patients than the controls. Anxiety and depressive disorders dominated the clinical picture and the symptoms were usually of mild nature. Other neurotic were rare and psychotic illness was absent. Though more psychiatric patients experienced life events than the controls, differences, however were not statistically significant. Further studies are needed, especially in relation to the causative association between the functional dyspepsia and psychiatric disturbances.

Life events stress in functional dyspepsia: a case control study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the possible relationship between life-events stress and functional dyspepsia. DESIGN: Prospective and case-control study. Exclusion of obvious organic disease for the dyspepsia. METHODS: Life-events stress scale; derived from life-events scale by Tennant and Andrews. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and abdominal sonography. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the patients and controls in relation to the number and categories of life events. Significant differences, however, were noticed in relation to experiencing individual life events, but the interpretation of these differences is not clear-cut, as they were present in both patients and controls. CONCLUSION: The question of the relationship between the stress and functional dyspepsia remains unresolved and further quantitative studies are needed before reaching a final conclusion.

Life event stress in duodenal ulcer compared with functional dyspepsia: a case-control study.

This is a prospective study of life event stress in 80 duodenal ulcer patients compared with 80 patients with functional dyspepsia and 80 healthy controls; matched for age, sex and marital status. A semi structured psychiatric interview was used in the psychiatric assessment of the dyspeptic patients and controls. A modified version of Life Events Scale by Tennant and Andrews was used in the assessment of life event stress. More dyspeptic patients reported life events than the controls, but, on the whole, the differences were not statistically significant. On the other hand, more patients with functional dyspepsia experienced life events than the patients with duodenal ulcer, but again the results were not consistent. Life event stress as measured by the experience of undesirable life events was significantly reported by more patients with functional dyspepsia. The significance of the presence of life events in duodenal ulcer and functional dyspepsia patients is not substantiated in the present study, as the positive findings were few and sometimes inconsistent. More quantitative studies are needed, taking into consideration the other aspects of the problem like personality, cognition and the complex interaction of stressors and personality.