DYSPEPSIA IN GENERAL-PRACTICE - HISTORY AND SYMPTOMS IN RELATION TO HELICOBACTER-PYLORI SERUM ANTIBODIES

Background: This study was designed to explore the relationships betwe en serologic Helicobacter pylori positivity and demographic, behaviour al, and symptomatologic factors in patients consulting for dyspeptic s ymptoms in general practice. Methods: H. pylori enzyme-linked immunoso rbent assay results and checklist data were collected by general pract itioners at three community health centres in southern Sweden from con secutive patients aged 18-65 years with upper abdominal pain or discom fort (dyspepsia). Results: Of the 130 available patients with dyspepsi a, 127 agreed to participate, U (mean age, 41.2 years) being classifie d as H. pylori-positive and 82 (mean age, 33.5 years) as H. pylori-neg ative. Manual workers were diagnosed as H. pylori-positive significant ly more often than were non-manual workers (p < 0.05). Of those patien ts examined earlier by gastroscopy or roentgenography, H. pylori-posit ives reported stomach or duodenal ulcer significantly more often than did H. pylori-negatives (p < 0.01). H. pylori-positives reported stoma ch/duodenal ulcer in their parents/siblings to a significantly greater extent than did H. pylori-negatives (45.2% versus 10.1%, p < 0.001). H. pylori-negatives reported stress-generated symptoms significantly m ore often than did H. pv(ori-positives (82.9% versus 61.5%, p < 0.01). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that, when age and sex were c ontrolled for, the ability of each of these measures to predict the se rologic results remained significant. Conclusions: Higher levels of H. pylori antibodies in dyspeptic patients appear to be associated with a relatively low self-perception of stress, with manual work, with bei ng older, and with the occurrence, both in the patients themselves and in their close relatives, of stomach/duodenal ulcer.