Association of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress in people with and without functional dyspepsia.

Background: Current studies have indicated a high ratio of psychological problems in functional dyspepsia (FD) which causes disturbance in its management, so recognition these problems help the process of treatment.

Materials And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a sample size of 4763 carried out in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2011. Modified ROME III questionnaire was used to evaluate FD symptoms. Hospital anxiety and depression scale and 12-item General Health Questionnaire-12 was used to assess the psychological issue. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association of psychological problems and FD.

Results: We showed that overly 654 (13.7%), 1338 (28.1%), and 1067 (22.4%) of participants, respectively had anxiety, depression, and of psychological distress. Seven hundred and ten (15.5%) participants were diagnosed with FD. Of all participants Mean scores of anxiety ( < 0.001), depression ( < 0.001), and psychological distress ( < 0.001) in participants with FD were significantly more than those with no FD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that psychological problems, whether in the form of psychological distress odds ratio (OR): 2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-3) and OR: 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1-1.7) in males and females, respectively, anxiety OR: 2.4 (95% CI: 1.5-3.9) and OR: 2.3 (95% CI: 1.7-3.2) in males and females, respectively) or depression OR: 2.2 (95% CI: 1.5-3.3) and OR: 1.7 (95% CI: 1.3-2.3) in males and females, respectively) were significantly linked to FD in both genders.

Conclusions: The prevalence of FD is less in males than females, but psychological links were stronger in males. Thus, it is essential to consider and detect the psychological distress in these patients.