Effects Of Cognitive Factors On Quality Of Life In Patients With Functional Dyspepsia

Objective: To explore the impact of cognitive factors related to causes,symptoms, treatments, prognosis on health-related quality of life and severityof symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).Methods:182outpatients with FD were interviewed and evaluated bythe Cognitive Questionnaire, the Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) and the FDSeverity Scale. Multiple linear regression models were built for NDI,dyspepsia Severity Scale and anxiety to assess the independent factorsassociated with the cognitions in patients with FD.Results: The cognitions in FD patients were: different somatisationsymptoms induced by different diseases distinguishing from FD (52.7%),dyspeptic symptoms affected by dietary (80.2%), economy (23.1%) andemotion (37.3%),had fears of an underlying serious disease (14.3%), needhospitalization (14.3%), accepted symptoms disappearing partly by treatments(49.3%). Correlations analyses showed: the cognition of somatisation(p=0.045), symptoms would be affected by emotion (p=0.006), and fears of aserious disease (p=0.039) were associated with NDI; symptoms affected byeconomy (p=0.007) and emotion (p=0.007) were associated with anxiety;symptoms affected by emotion (p=0.016) was associated with severity.Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that: somatisation (p=0.002),symptoms affected by emotion (p=0.009), need hospitalization (p=0.006), andaccepted to take medication intermittently for several years (p=0.029) wereassociated with NDI; symptoms affected by emotion (p=0.001) and patientsaccepted symptoms disappearing partly (p=0.049) were associated with anxiety; symptoms affected by emotion (p=0.033) was associated withseverity of symptoms.Conclusions: There are differences between the cognitions of FDpatients and the current medical levels. Quality of life, anxiety and severityare possiblely affected by the cognitions related to somatisation symptoms,the relationship between symptoms and emotion, economy, dietary, medicine,whether they have fears of an underlying serious disease like cancer, whetherthe cases need hospitalization, and whether accept symptoms disappearingpartly. This study suggest that addressing these issues among patients with FDmay be helpful to enhance treatment response and quality of life in futurefurther studies.