[Frequency and characteristics of dyspepsia in coronary artery disease patients]

The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of functional and organic dyspepsia and possible predictors for organic dyspepsia in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. The 150 patients (109 men; mean age 62.61 +/- 10.23 yr) undergoing coronary artery by-pass grafting because of stable pectoral angina due to significant CAD were enrolled in the study. Dyspepsia was determined by the existence of epigastralgy, heartburn, nausea and vomiting. Dyspepsia with endoscopic lesions was defined as organic, and dyspepsia with normal endoscopy was defined as functional. Multivariate analysis (logistic regression) was used to estimate predictive values of some independent clinical and demographic variables in relation to organic dyspepsia (dependent variable). One hundred thirty-five (90%) patients had at least one symptom of dyspepsia. Eighty five patients (63%) had organic dyspepsia, and 50 (37%) patients had functional dyspepsia (P < 0.001). Patients with organic dyspepsia had more dyspeptic symptoms than patients with functional dyspepsia (1.92 +/- 0.88 vs. 1.38 +/- 0.87, P < 0.001). More dyspeptic symptoms correlated with heavy GD lesions (r = 0.267; P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed independent correlation of consuming low-dose aspirin (standardized coefficient beta = 11.701, P = 0.004), diabetes (beta = 2.921, P = 0.027), cigarette smoking (beta = 2.910, P = 0.037) and nausea (beta = 3.620, P = 0.015) with organic dyspepsia. The study showed high frequency of dyspepsia, especially organic dyspepsia, in CAD patients. Three or more dyspeptic symptoms, low-dose aspirin, cigarette smoking, diabetes and nausea, increased the probability of organic dyspepsia. Therefore, for patients with combination of dyspeptic symptoms and present risk factors the endoscopic examination should be considered.