Functional dyspepsia symptoms, gastric emptying and satiety provocative test: analysis of relationships.
BACKGROUND
The correlation between symptoms and observed impaired function in functional dyspepsia is still inconsistent. The aims of the study were to obtain a measure of satiety by a meal test; to verify whether this compares with severity of symptoms assessed using a reproducible questionnaire; and to correlate the parameters of satiety test and gastric emptying with all the dyspeptic symptoms.


METHODS
Fifty-two functional dyspepsia patients reported their symptoms on a standardized questionnaire that considered belching, bloating, early satiety, epigastric pain and burning, nausea, postprandial fullness and vomiting. They were monitored for gastric emptying of a solid caloric meal using a radionuclide technique and underwent a test to quantify meal-induced satiety by a liquid caloric meal.


RESULTS
The number of kilocalories ingested during the satiety test until the occurrence of maximum satiety in healthy subjects was 110% higher than in the dyspeptic group (mean +/- s(mean): 1110 +/- 23 versus 532 +/- 56; P < 0.01). We found a significant positive correlation between gastric emptying rate and kcal of the satiety test (P < 0.01; r = 0.428). Logistic regression showed a significant inverse association between severity of early satiety-coded as absent, mild, moderate or severe, kcal of meal test (P = 0.01), and gastric emptying lag phase (P = 0.03). Bloating was associated directly with t(1/2) of gastric emptying (P = 0.03) and inversely with lag phase (P = 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
The satiety test gives a fine numerical measure of satiety and confirms the results of a symptoms questionnaire. Our study showed an indirect correlation between severity of early satiety--as measured by the satiety test, and gastric emptying rate, as well as an association between bloating and delayed gastric emptying.
Cuomo
R
R
Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy. r.cuomo@unina.it
Sarnelli
G
G
Grasso
R
R
Bruzzese
D
D
Pumpo
R
R
Salomone
M
M
Nicolai
E
E
Tack
J
J
Budillon
G
G
D000328:Adult; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004884:Eructation / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005746:Gastric Emptying / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012528:Satiety Response / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology