THE PERSONALITY-PATTERNS IN PATIENTS WITH DUODENAL-ULCER AND ULCER-LIKE DYSPEPSIA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE COURSE OF THE DISEASES

Objectives, To compare personality characteristics in duodenal ulcer p atients and patients with ulcer-like dyspepsia from the primary health sector with duodenal ulcer patients from a hospital and to evaluate t he relationship of the personality characteristics to the course of th e diseases. Design. A prospective study using the Minnesota Multiphasi c Personality Inventory (MMPI) with retesting of a subgroup of patient s after a median observation period of 14 months. Setting. Departments of Medical and Surgical Gastroenterology, Hvidovre University Hospita l, and the primary health sector in Roskilde County, Denmark. Subjects . Sixty hospital patients with duodenal ulceration and 17 patients wit h duodenal ulceration plus 25 patients with ulcer-like dyspepsia from the primary health sector. Main outcome measures. MMPI scores. Results , The hospital patients differed from the two other groups of patients by having higher scores of depression and anxiety (P < 0.05). Twenty- eight of the patients were retested with MMPI. Contrary to the patient s with persisting complaints, abnormal personality characteristics dis appeared in patients without complaints (P < 0.05-0.001). Conclusions. The results indicate that abnormal personality characteristics in pat ients with functional and organic upper dyspepsia are consequential ra ther than causal factors.