Dyspepsia refers to pain or discomfort centered in the upper abdomen.
Symptoms suggestive of the irritable bowel syndrome and reflux disease frequently overlap but do not form part of the definition of dyspepsia. Electrical and other stimuli can cause similar or different symptoms in various patients, and even the site to which symptoms are referred varies considerably. Identification of patients who require further investigation to rule out serious structural disease, such as peptic ulcer disease or cancer, is a key issue because unaided clinical diagnosis is unreliable. Unfortunately, because of overlap with reflux symptoms and between the subgroups, the clinical significance of these groups remains highly questionable. A focus on symptom predominance may be more rewarding.