The impact of functional dyspepsia on health-related quality of life in Saudi patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), which was assessed using the Nepean Dyspepsia Index, the Short Form-12 quality of life (QOL) scale, the general health questionnaire (GHQ-30) and the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20).

Materials And Methods: Validated Arabic versions of the four scales were administered to 158 subjects (54 with NUD, 50 with gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD] and 54 with no history of gastrointestinal [GI] disease), with a mean age of 46.6 years and SD 10.7.

Results: Subjects with NUD showed the poorest scores in all indices of general QOL and HRQOL. The differences between the NUD patients and the health control in all HRQOL indices were statistically significant (P < 0.05 to P < 0.001). Comparison between NUD and GERD patients showed significant differences only in the indices of psychological health related QOL ( P < 0.05) but not in the indices of other components of QOL, including physical health components. The study also showed that the women scored lower than men in HRQOL indices, particularly those of psychological and mental health components (P < 0.05 to P < 0.001). Finally, it was found that severity of symptoms is associated with the degree of impairments in HRQOL - (r = 0.69) was significant at (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Results of our study showed that HRQOL was significantly impaired in the NUD group. Psychological and mental health related quality of life was particularly impaired in this group compared to both normal patients and patients with similar GI disease. This magnitude of effects on HRQOL was also found to be associated with the severity of symptoms. The implications of these findings for the management of NUD are discussed.