Background—Psychological, social, andextraintestinal (somatic) disturbances are prominent features offunctional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID); little attention,however, has been given to differences in the nature of thesedisturbances in the various FGID subgroups. Aims—(1) To determine whether psychological,social, and extraintestinal factors are associated with specific FGID,and/or with the overall severity and extent of FGID disturbance (the number of coexistent FGID subgroups present in any individual); and (2)to determine whether chronic social stressors link gastrointestinal, extraintestinal, and emotional symptomatologies in FGID. Patients—One hundred and eighty eightoutpatients, fulfilling standard criteria for one or more functionalgastroduodenal or functional bowel disorders. Methods—Utilising detailed and objectiveinterview and questionnaire methods, detailed gastrointestinal,extraintestinal, psychological, and social data were collected. Results—Chronic stressors and extraintestinal andemotional symptomatologies were prominent features of functionaldyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) alone. Theseparticular features were, however, highly specific for particular FDand/or IBS subgroups. The chronic threat component of social stressors predicted the nature and extent of multisystem (gastrointestinal, extraintestinal, and emotional) symptomatology. Conclusions—Notable differences between thevarious FGID subgroups support the symptom based classification ofFGID. Chronic stressor provoked psychological and extraintestinaldisturbance is most specific for the FD-IBS group of syndromes.
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