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The Disease Spectrum and Natural History of Patients With Abdominal Bloating or Distension: A Longitudinal Study
Fangfei Chen1, Niandi Tan1, Songfeng Chen1
1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Background/Aims:
Abdominal bloating or distension (AB/D) is a common complaint in the outpatient of gastroenterology department. Since the potential contributors are numerous and complex, a longitudinal study on the disease spectrum and natural history of patients was performed to better understand the key factors of AB/D.
Methods:
Consecutive patients with the chief complaint of AB/D referred to the outpatient clinic were screened. Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) were diagnosed according to Rome IV criteria. A 3-year follow-up was performed to seek for the changes in symptoms as well as disease spectrum.
Results:
A total of 261 participants were enrolled and 139 completed the follow-up. Most patients suffered from moderate to severe symptoms more than 1 day per week. Common causes of AB/D were FGIDs (51.7%) and organic diseases (17.2%). The latter group was older with lower body mass index (BMI). Functional dyspepsia was the most common type of FGIDs in AB/D. The symptoms of 18.0% of participants failed to improve at the end of the 3-year follow-up, and those diagnosed with FGIDs were most likely to continue to suffer. Abdominal pain was a positive predictive factor for good prognosis in the FGIDs group. Besides, only 22.7% of participants had a consistent diagnosis of FGIDs during follow-up.
Conclusions:
FGIDs are the most common diagnosis in patients with AB/D. Symptoms were especially hard to be improved. Classification diagnoses of FGIDs in AB/D patients fluctuated significantly over time.
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