TY - JOUR
T1 - Sociodemographics, general health, and psychologic health in uninvestigated dyspepsia
T2 - A comparison of public and private patients
AU - Rabeneck, Linda
AU - Wristers, Kimberly
AU - Campbell, Catherine
AU - Souchek, Julianne
AU - Menke, Terri
AU - Wray, Nelda
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Goals: To compare the dyspepsia severity, general health, and psychologic health of patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia presenting in private and public settings. Study: Patients in this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Houston Veterans Administration (VA) General Medicine Outpatient Clinic and from the nearby private practice of a family physician. To be included, patients had to be at least 18 years of age and had to report a history of dyspepsia (epigastric discomfort) without alarm of at least 1 week's duration. Clinical information was obtained. Dyspepsia severity was measured using dyspepsia-related health scales, general health was measured using the Short Form 36, and psychologic health was measured using six scales. Results: The authors enrolled 159 patients (59 VA). There were no differences in VA and private patients in most of the clinical characteristics related to dyspepsia. Compared with the private patients, the VA patients had worse scores on all Short Form 36 subscales, had lower expectations for treatment outcome, were more depressed, and had less optimism about life. Conclusions: Burden of illness and psychologic factors such as patient expectations are known to have important effects on patient outcomes. Striking differences in these factors exist in patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia seen in private and public settings. In the future, these factors must be taken into account both in conducting studies in dyspepsia and in interpreting the results for different practice settings.
AB - Goals: To compare the dyspepsia severity, general health, and psychologic health of patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia presenting in private and public settings. Study: Patients in this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Houston Veterans Administration (VA) General Medicine Outpatient Clinic and from the nearby private practice of a family physician. To be included, patients had to be at least 18 years of age and had to report a history of dyspepsia (epigastric discomfort) without alarm of at least 1 week's duration. Clinical information was obtained. Dyspepsia severity was measured using dyspepsia-related health scales, general health was measured using the Short Form 36, and psychologic health was measured using six scales. Results: The authors enrolled 159 patients (59 VA). There were no differences in VA and private patients in most of the clinical characteristics related to dyspepsia. Compared with the private patients, the VA patients had worse scores on all Short Form 36 subscales, had lower expectations for treatment outcome, were more depressed, and had less optimism about life. Conclusions: Burden of illness and psychologic factors such as patient expectations are known to have important effects on patient outcomes. Striking differences in these factors exist in patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia seen in private and public settings. In the future, these factors must be taken into account both in conducting studies in dyspepsia and in interpreting the results for different practice settings.
KW - Burden of illness
KW - Dyspepsia
KW - Health outcomes
KW - Psychology
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U2 - 10.1097/00004836-200205000-00007
DO - 10.1097/00004836-200205000-00007
M3 - Article
C2 - 11960061
AN - SCOPUS:0036228547
SN - 0192-0790
VL - 34
SP - 516
EP - 522
JO - Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology
JF - Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology
IS - 5
ER -