Sleep disturbance and psychological distress are associated with functional dyspepsia based on Rome III criteria.

Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is considered a bio-psychosocial disorder. The role of psychosocial factors in FD pathogenesis remains unclear.

Methods: This study evaluated sleep quality and mood symptoms in patients with FD, assessing the associations of FD severity, disordered sleep, and psychological symptoms. One-hundred-and-fifteen adult patients with typical FD symptoms were enrolled alongside 61 healthy volunteers. Rome III criteria were used to evaluate FD symptoms; sleep disorder was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90R) was utilized to determine the status of depression, anxiety and other psychological symptoms.

Results: PSQI scores and nine symptomatic dimensions of SCL-90R were significantly higher in FD patients than in controls. Multiple logistic regression indicated that lower BMI, lower level of education, and sleep disturbance were independently associated with FD and FD subgroups. Hostility and phobic anxiety were independent risk factors for FD. Further analysis showed that hostility was an independent risk factor for both FD subgroups, and somatization and additional psychiatric symptoms for epigastric pain syndrome.

Conclusions: We found that FD was associated with sleep disorder and psychopathological factors. These findings suggest that implementing sleeping and/or psychological therapies may help reduce FD symptoms.