Personality deviation and gastric motility in patients with functional dyspepsia

We studied gastric motor functions by scintigraphic gastric emptying analysis and surface electrogastrography (EGG), and personality trait deviation in patients with functional dyspepsia. Delayed gastric emptying was observed in 17/35 patients and reduced normal EGG activity in 22/35 functional dyspepsia patients. There was a highly significant negative correlation between the gastric retention rate (at 150 min) and the duration of normal EGG waves. Abnormally high T scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test (70 or above) were found in 14/21 patients. Hypochondriasis (Hs) and conversion hysteria (Hy) were the most common abnormal findings. Ninety percent of functional dyspepsia patients (19/21) had either gastric dysmotility and/or psychological deviation. Although there was no significant correlation between gastric dysmotility and deviation in personality traits in functional dyspepsia patients, these data suggest that brain-gut interactions may play an important role in the symptoms of functional dyspepsia.