It is common to witness sleep disturbances in patients with functional dyspepsia. A study recently explored the link between subjective sleep and quality of life and looked at the factors associated with impaired sleep in functional dyspepsia.

Investigators evaluated 1220 patients who were referred for functional gastrointestinal disorders at a single tertiary care center from 2017 end to June 2019. The patients were assessed with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 355 patients were found to have Rome IV-based functional dyspepsia. Sleep evaluation was done using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). The severity of dyspeptic symptoms was determined with the help of the Total Symptom Score (TSS). Investigators assessed quality of life using the GastroIntestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI), while anxiety and depression levels were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale.

• Of the 355 patients with functional dyspepsia, 18.6% patients were found to have normal sleep quality; 81.4% patients had altered sleep quality.
• Functional dyspepsia patients who had sleep disturbances were older (48.1 ± 15.4 vs. 41.4 ± 16.0), had decreased quality of life (GIQLI: 75.3 ± 18.5 vs. 92.1 ± 15.4), experienced greater symptom severity (TSS: 18.9 ± 3.6 vs. 17.2 ± 3.9), and had higher anxiety and depression scores (HADS: 17.7 ± 7.2 vs. 11.9 ± 5.1).
• There was a correlation between sleep quality and quality of life.
• Factors that predicted poor sleep quality included age (OR 1.03), depression level (OR 1.27), and severity of dyspeptic symptoms (OR 1.13).

There is a high prevalence of sleep disturbances among patients with functional dyspepsia, with 81% of the patients having altered sleep quality and 61% having insomnia.

Altered sleep quality and insomnia seem to be linked to altered quality of life, higher symptom severity, and higher anxiety and depression scores in patients with this disorder.

Source: Wuestenberghs F, Melchior C, Desprez C, et al. Sleep Quality and Insomnia Are Associated With Quality of Life in Functional Dyspepsia. Front Neurosci. 2022 Feb 8;16:829916.