Association Between Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Gastric Emptying in Dyspeptic Patients
- Author:
Fabien WUESTENBERGHS
1
;
Mathilde JUGE
;
Chloé MELCHIOR
;
Charlotte DESPREZ
;
Anne Marie LEROI
;
Guillaume GOURCEROL
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Breath tests; Dyspepsia; Gastric emptying; Gastroparesis; Quality of life
- MeSH: Abdominal Pain; Breath Tests; Cohort Studies; Dyspepsia; Gastric Emptying; Gastroparesis; Humans; Quality of Life; Retrospective Studies
- From:Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility 2019;25(4):534-543
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND/AIMS: Association between symptoms, quality of life and gastric emptying in dyspepsia is inconsistent in the literature. The aim of our study is to investigate if gastric emptying is associated with specific symptoms and quality of life in dyspeptic patients. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively gastric emptying measured by ¹³C-labelled octanoate breath testing for more than 6 hours in 198 consecutive patients with dyspepsia complaints. Gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed using a 5-points Likert scale and by a symptomatic composite score, whereas quality of life was measured by the GIQLI. RESULTS: In our cohort, 90 patients (45%) had a delayed gastric emptying (half emptying time above 166 minutes when assessed over 6–8 hours). There was no difference in symptoms or quality of life between patients with or without delayed gastric emptying. However, patients with severely delayed gastric emptying (half emptying time above 200 minutes) had increased postprandial fullness (P = 0.012), abdominal pain (P = 0.026), bloating (P = 0.044), early satiety (P = 0.018), symptomatic composite score (P = 0.005), and a lower quality of life (P = 0.018). This association was no longer observed if the calculation of gastric emptying was limited to the first 4-hour samples. CONCLUSIONS: There is no association between symptoms, quality of life and gastric emptying in an overall dyspeptic population. However, there is an association between symptoms, quality of life of delayed gastric emptying in the subgroup of patients with severely delayed gastric emptying. An 8-hour measurement of gastric emptying should be recommended.
