Objective Quality of life (QOL) impairment of patients who visit an outpatient clinic for abdominal symptoms has not been clarified. We investigated symptom-related QOL impairment that led patients to seek medical care.
Patients and MethodsAbdominal symptom-related QOL was determined using the Izumo scale instrument in 172 patients who visited a clinic for their abdominal symptoms and in 961 healthy subjects who attended an annual health check. Results QOL was more strongly impaired in the patients with abdominal symptoms than in subjects who attended health checks. Patients with heartburn consulted physicians even when QOL impairment was minimal, while those with epigastric fullness tended to consult a physician only when QOL impairment was significant. Conclusion Abdominal symptom-related QOL impairment is considered to lead patients to seek medical care, though different symptoms have varying levels of influence.
Background The characteristics of symptoms reported by patients with various organic and functional upper gastroduodenal diseases have not been fully studied. Methods We used a questionnaire-based survey to investigate abdominal symptoms of patients with reflux esophagitis, nonerosive reflux disease (NERD), peptic ulcers, and functional dyspepsia (FD). Seven hundred thirty-seven patients with those conditions responded to a questionnaire asking about the possible presence of nine kinds of upper abdominal symptoms.
ResultsThe mean number of symptoms reported was 3.2 ± 1.7, and patients with organic diseases tended to have a larger number. Approximately 60% of patients with NERD complained of heartburn and 30% of at least one dyspeptic symptom; more than 50% of patients with FD noted dyspeptic symptoms and 20% complained of reflux symptoms. We found a large overlap in the abdominal symptoms of NERD and FD patients, including the most troublesome symptoms. Conclusion In summary, our questionnaire-based study showed that symptom-based classification of NERD and FD is not easy because of symptom overlap. Possible overlap of NERD and FD should always be considered.
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