Chronic Non-Organic Upper Abdominal Pain: Diagnostic Safety and Prognosis of Gastrointestinal and Non-Intestinal Symptoms: A 5-to 7-Year Follow-up Study

Abstract

To establish the diagnostic safety and the prognosis in outpatients with non-organic upper abdominal pain, 37 patients were followed up 5-7 years after the index investigation. In only one case had the diagnosis been changed during the follow-up period. This was in a man who erroneously had not been examined sufficiently before entry. He turned out to have gallstones. Eighty-one per cent still had abdominal pain, but 51% had improved (P less than 0.005). At the index investigation back pain was reported by 76% and headache by 60%. At the follow-up study back pain was unchanged in severity, but headache was significantly improved. The course of abdominal pain was significantly correlated with the course of back pain and headache. At the index investigation a psychic symptom score indicating vulnerability was significantly higher than in a matched patient group with well-defined pain. It was unchanged high at the follow-up study and unrelated to the course of the abdominal pain. Fifty-four per cent of the patients had symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, but the course of the abdominal pain was unrelated to this.

A 9 year prospective cohort study of endoscoped patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms

“…For 63% of all patients their outcome status at 18 months predicted long-term outcome with 44% remaining symptomatic and 19% remaining asymptomatic. Our results are consistent with the limited comparative data available which demonstrates the chronic nature of upper gastrointestinal symptoms [1,23,24].…”

Diet and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, with a Focus on Appetite-Regulating Gut Hormones

“…Although IBS is not known to be associated with the development of serious disease or increased mortality, it does considerably reduce the patients quality of life by an amount comparable to that reported for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure, renal insufficiency, and hepatic cirrhosis [1,6,[26][27][28][29][30][31]. In addition to the morbidity caused by IBS, this disorder represents an economic burden to society [1].…”

Long-term Outcome of Functional Dyspepsia: Effect of Helicobacter pylori Infection. A 6- to 7-Year Follow-up Study

“…In fact, little is known about the natural history and the longterm outcome of functional dyspepsia or about the usefulness of repeat investigations. Studies performed previously were based mainly on postal questionnaires without clinical investigations, or used X-ray instead of endoscopy (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Data on the effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on the long-term prognosis of functional dyspepsia are thus limited (14).…”