Dyspepsia in medical university students: prevalence of symptoms and risk factors
Authors: Paliy I. G. , Zayika S. V. , Chernova I. V. , Kapitun A. G. 
Published: October 2024

Annotation. Dyspepsia is one of the most common symptom complex encountered in internal medicine and includes a group of symptoms related to the gastroduodenal region of the gastrointestinal tract. The purpose of the research was to study the prevalence of dyspepsia symptoms among the 1-6 years students of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya, who did not seek medical help for symptoms of dyspepsia and also to establish risk factors for its development among the students in comparison with general practitioners. Using the Microsoft Forms platform we conducted a survey of 300 respondents aged 17-65, among them 168 (56%) were domestic students of the 1st-6th year of study, 64 (21,3%) were foreign students of the 5th-6th year of study, and 68 (22.7%) referred to the doctors of general practice. To assess the presence or absence of complaints from the respondents we used a modified FSSG (Frequency Scale for Symptoms of GERD) questionnaire supplemented with questions about the age, gender, body weight and height of the respondents, the course of study and academic success (applied to the students), the presence of chronic diseases of gastro-intestinal track, taking pharmaceutical drugs, smoking and alcohol consumption, indicating the number of doses per week. There was an additional question about native country in the questionnaire for foreign students. The arithmetic mean and standard error of the arithmetic mean were calculated. The statistical probability of the difference between two samples was calculated using the Student's t-test. We used the χ2 method to assess the influence of various factors on the occurrence of dyspepsia and GERD symptoms, and the correlation analysis was performed using the non-parametric Spearman method. It was found that in the group of domestic students, compared to foreign ones, there were significantly more (p<0.05) of those who noted the presence of dyspepsia symptoms (21.4% versus 10.9%), and significantly fewer (p<0.01) almost healthy (60.7% vs. 79.7%). Meanwhile, no significant differences were found between the groups of domestic students and the doctors of general practice, and between the groups of foreign students and the doctors (p>0.05). In all three groups we established a relationship between the presence of symptoms of dyspepsia and GERD and the presence of gastrointestinal diseases in the anamnesis of the respondents. Thus, the coefficient of Spearman’s ranks for the group of domestic students was 0.36, for the doctors group -0.43, and for foreign students group – 0.6 (p<0.01). In the groups of domestic students and foreign ones a correlation was established (p<0.01) between taking medication and the appearance of symptoms of dyspepsia and GERD. In particular, the Spearman rank coefficient for the group of domestic students was 0.2 and for the foreign students group – 0.42. At the same time, such a relationship was absent in the surveyed group of family medicine doctors (p>0.05). The coefficient of Spearman’s ranks for the doctors group was 0.43. The obtained results indicate that symptoms of dyspepsia, GERD and their combination were found in all examined groups. The presence of gastrointestinal pathology in the anamnesis is a risk factor for dyspepsia and GERD regardless of the respondents groups.