title: Upper Gastrointestinal Symptoms Are More Frequent in Female than Male Young Healthy Japanese Volunteers as Evaluated by Questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Upper gastrointestinal symptoms are more frequent and severe in female than in male outpatients in Japan. This study compared theupper gastrointestinal symptoms between healthy male and female young adult volunteers using a questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 581 third-grade medical students at Saga Medical School aged 22 to 30 years underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopyand completed a questionnaire (frequency scale for symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease) from 2007 to 2013. Of these 581students, 298 who were negative for Helicobacter pylori infection and had no particular lesions on endoscopic examination wereenrolled in the present evaluation. A symptom was defined as positive when the subject evaluated the frequency of the symptom assometimes, often, or always.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The subjects comprised of 163 males (average age, 23.7 years) and 135 females (average age, 23.1 years). Upper gastrointestinalsymptoms were more frequent in the females (75 of 135, 55.6%) than males (69 of 163, 42.3%; P < 0.05), with a high score for 4symptoms (bloated stomach, heavy feeling in the stomach after meals, subconscious rubbing of the chest with the hand, and feeling of fullness while eating meals). Of the 144 subjects (69 males and 75 females) who complained of these symptoms, the females complained of dysmotility symptoms more often than did the males, but this was not true for reflux symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that females develop upper gastrointestinal symptoms more frequently than do males among the young healthyJapanese population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawakubo
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Nanae
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsuruoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hidaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iwakiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Endoscopy and Endoscopic Surgery, Gunma University Hospital, Gunma, Japan.
authors.forename: Motoyasu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kusano
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
keywords: Dyspepsia; Endoscopy; Esophagitis; Gastroesophageal reflux; Gastrointestinal motility