Perfectionism underlying psychological background correlated with the symptoms of functional dyspepsia.
BACKGROUND
Early satiety, bloating, and postprandial distress are common symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) and anorexia nervosa (AN). Perfectionism is known to be associated with AN, accompanied by abnormal eating behavior. We analyzed perfectionism in FD as compared with that in AN, and investigated the correlation of perfectionism with abdominal symptoms.


METHODS
The study group comprised 168 patients with FD according to the Rome II criteria (65% females, mean age 47.7 years) and 101 with AN according to the DSM-IV criteria (100% females, mean age 23 years). As control, 130 healthy subjects (81% females, mean age 26.2 years) were studied. Frost's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) was used to evaluate perfectionism. Abdominal symptoms were evaluated on the Gastrointestinal Symptoms Rating Scale (GSRS).


RESULTS
All subscale scores except for organization were significantly higher in patients with AN than in controls. The parental criticism (PC) score in patients with FD was also significantly higher than that in controls, but lower than that in patients with AN. PC was significantly correlated with the total GSRS, particularly indigestion scores of FD patients (P = 0.0476 and P = 0.0294).


CONCLUSIONS
Perfectionism such as PC underlying the psychological background of FD patients may be correlated with their abdominal symptoms.
Ochi
Masahiro
M
Department of Gastroenterology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
Tominaga
Kazunari
K
Iketani
Toshiya
T
Kadouchi
Kaori
K
Tanigawa
Tetsuya
T
Shiba
Masatsugu
M
Watanabe
Toshio
T
Fujiwara
Yasuhiro
Y
Oshitani
Nobuhide
N
Higuchi
Kazuhide
K
Kiriike
Nobuo
N
Arakawa
Tetsuo
T
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory