Positive Association Between Sleep Disturbance and Prevalence of Functional Dyspepsia in Japanese Young People.

Background: Evidence regarding the association between sleep disturbance and functional dyspepsia (FD) remains limited in the young population.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep disturbance and FD including subgroups among Japanese young people.

Methods: Study subjects were 8923 university students. FD was defined according to the Rome III criteria. Subjects with FD were further categorized as having postprandial distress syndrome (PDS) or epigastric pain syndrome (EPS). Subjects completed a self-reported questionnaire assessing self-reported sleep duration, sleep disturbance, difficulty falling asleep, deep sleep disorder, nocturnal awakening, early awakening, and daytime sleepiness.

Results: The prevalence of FD was 1.9%. After adjustment, all types of sleep disturbances were independently positively associated with FD (total sleep disturbance: OR 4.11 [95% CI: 2.89-5.78], difficulty falling asleep: OR 3.97 [95% CI: 2.53-6.01], deep sleep disorder: OR 4.85 [95% CI: 3.06-7.40], nocturnal awakening: OR 4.35 [95% CI: 1.90-8.67], early awakening: OR 4.50 [95% CI: 1.97-8.97], and daytime sleepiness: OR 2.83 [95% CI: 1.25-5.56]). While nocturnal awakening and daytime sleepiness were not associated with EPS, the other types of sleep disturbance were independently positively associated with EPS and PDS. No association between self-reported sleep duration and FD was found.

Conclusions: Sleep disturbance may be independently positively associated with the prevalence of FD among Japanese young people. Nocturnal awakening and daytime sleepiness were not associated with EPS; the other types of sleep disturbance were independently positively associated with EPS and PDS.