Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2024 Mar 10:e14778. doi: 10.1111/nmo.14778. Online ahead of print

I-Hsuan Huang ^1 2, Jolien Schol ¹, Guohao Lin ³, Yaozhu J Chen ⁴, Florencia Carbone ¹, Bert Vaes ³, Jan Tack ^1 5

Author information

¹Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

²Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.

³Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

⁴Global Evidence and Outcomes, Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

⁵Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Abstract

Background: Dyspepsia is a prevalent condition in the general population. Besides organic causes, the differential diagnosis of dyspepsia includes functional dyspepsia (FD) and gastroparesis (GP) which share similar pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical presentation. So far, no study investigated the prevalence of FD and GP in a primary care in Belgium.

Methods: Data were obtained from Intego, a Flemish-Belgian general practice-based morbidity registration network. From 586,164 patients between 2000 and 2021, we selected patients with ICD-10 code for FD and GP. Patients with organic gastrointestinal diseases were excluded. We determined demographics and comorbidities of FD/GP. For prevalence and incidence calculation, we included those who consulted their general practitioners at least once in the given year. Pair-wise comparison was conducted to access the impact of comorbidities on risk of FD/GP.

Key results: Between 2011 and 2021, the prevalence of FD/GP ranged from 1.03% to 1.21%. The incidence of FD/GP ranged from 109 to 142 per 100,000 adults. In total 5242 cases of FD/GP were identified. These cases shared commonly coexisting diagnoses of gastroesophageal reflux disease (18.8%), irritable bowel syndrome (17.1%), and chronic constipation (18.7%). Patients with somatization/anxiety/depression had significantly higher risk of FD/GP, compared to the control (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.19-1.61, p < 0.01).

Conclusions and inferences: The prevalence (1.03%-1.21%) and incidence (109-142/100,000) of FD/GP in primary care over last decade appear to conflict with epidemiological research in the general population. The discrepancies suggest a potential lack of awareness of FD and GP among physicians and/or patients in Flemish-Belgium.