Health Citizens – European Research Institute

Tag: Gastrointestinal disorders

  • Association of mental health conditions and functional gastrointestinal disorders among Vietnamese new-entry medical students

    Association of mental health conditions and functional gastrointestinal disorders among Vietnamese new-entry medical students

    Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), sometimes called disorders of gut–brain interaction, do not affect only older people, they are also common in young adults. A study among 400 first-year medical students in Vietnam investigated how these gut disorders relate to mental health.

    About 10% of students had an FGID such as functional dyspepsia or irritable bowel syndrome, and 3% had overlapping conditions including acid reflux. Depression and anxiety were also frequent, with around 10% showing signs of major depressive disorder and 7% showing generalized anxiety disorder. Helicobacter pylori infection was detected in 45% of participants.

    The key finding was that depression was strongly associated with gut disorders. Students with major depressive disorder were much more likely to have FGIDs and overlapping gastrointestinal problems than students without depression.

    Interestingly, in this study, this risk was also greater in women.

    These results support the strong link between mental health and digestive symptoms in young adults, highlighting the importance of screening and early support for both areas in student populations.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289123

    Reference

    Tran, T. T. T., Luu, M. N., Tran, L. L., Nguyen, D., Quach, D. T., & Hiyama, T. (2023). Association of mental health conditions and functional gastrointestinal disorders among Vietnamese new-entry medical students. PloS one, 18(7), e0289123.

  • Helicobacter Pylori Associated Depression among Patients Presenting with Epigastric Pain

    Helicobacter Pylori Associated Depression among Patients Presenting with Epigastric Pain

    Helicobacter pylori infection is an extremely prevalent infection that has been connected not only to a number of illnesses such as stomach cancer and peptic ulcer disease. H. pylori has also been linked to depression but the mechanisms behind this connection are still poorly understood.

    A research study by Mohamed and colleagues aimed to better explore this relation by assessing the presence and severity of depression in 150 patients with or without H. pylori infection.

    When comparing both groups, the authors found that H. pylori infection was significantly associated with depression and, more interestingly, with its severity. These findings point to the importance of assessing the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms or dyspepsia in patients with depression.

    Learn more about this study here: https://healthcitizens.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Mohamed-and-Elrassas_Helicobacter-Pylori-.pdf

    Reference

    Dina M. Mohamed and Hanan Elrassas, “Helicobacter Pylori Associated Depression among Patients Presenting with Epigastric Pain”, The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine (January 2023) Vol. 90 (2), Page 2315-2320

  • Correlation between social factors and anxiety-depression in function dyspepsia: do relationships exist?

    Correlation between social factors and anxiety-depression in function dyspepsia: do relationships exist?

    A research study conducted on the Chinese population in 2014 aimed at evaluating the prevalence and the social factors linked to anxiety and depression in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). This study included 907 patients with FD who attended a gastroenterology service.

    Despite being a hospital-based study, results showed that patients with functional dyspepsia had higher anxiety and depression scores when compared to data from the general population. They also found that a higher prevalence of A/D was observed in women, older individuals, those with lower socioeconomic status (lower wages, lower education levels), and those with more stressful jobs, making these aspects risk factors for the development of A/D. Interestingly, they found no differences in relation to family history.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.5114/pg.2014.47897

    Reference

    Huang, Z., Yang, X., Lan, L., Liu, T., Liu, C., & Li, J. et al. (2014). Correlation between social factors and anxiety-depression in function dyspepsia: do relationships exist?. Gastroenterology Review/Przegląd Gastroenterologiczny, 9(6), 348-353.