[Dyspepsia. Investigation and treatment]

Dyspepsia is defined as chronic or recurrent pain or discomfort centred in the upper abdomen. Early satiety, nausea, vomiting, or bloating are often also present. Dyspepsia should be differentiated from gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, whose predominant symptoms are heartburn and acid regurgitation. Prevalence rates vary between 25% and 40%, and dyspepsia is the main reason for consulting GPs: 3-5% of all visits. Older patients and patients presenting with alarm symptoms (weight loss, anaemia, jaundice, dysphagia, bleeding) should undergo endoscopy, but apart from this no other management strategy has been agreed upon. Management strategies based on non-invasive H. pylori testing will probably prove cost-effective and safe. However, the results of clinical trials are awaited before guidelines can be offered. The symptomatic effects of treating patients with functional dyspepsia with either acid inhibitors, prokinetics, or H. pylori eradication therapy are difficult to predict and are usually quite modest.