• Érika Cristina Lima, PassosMaria do Carmo FricheMDCFhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-5247-9477MD, PhD. Professor, Alfa Institute of Gastroenterology, Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil., Silvia Marinho Ferolla, Raissa Soares Neves da Costa, Quelson Coelho Lisboa, Lucas Ismael Dias Pereira, Mateus Jorge Nardelli, Vitor Nunes Arantes, Teresa Cristina de Abreu Ferrari, and Claudia Alves Couto.
• MSc. Nurse, Postgraduate Program in Sciences Applied to Adult Health Care, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2022 Mar 1; 140 (2): 199-206.

BackgroundGastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequent complaints from individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Dyspepsia is a universal clinical symptom and is among the most common GI complaints observed in the general population, but its prevalence in the population with NAFLD has not been previously investigated.ObjectiveTo compare the prevalence of functional dyspepsia (FD) between patients with NAFLD and controls without liver disease.Design And SettingCross-sectional study at the Outpatient Liver Clinic, University Hospital, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.MethodsWe included 96 NAFLD patients and 105 controls without liver disease. All participants were assessed for GI symptoms in accordance with the Rome III criteria. Evaluation methods included a questionnaire for FD (validated in Brazil), laboratory tests and upper GI endoscopy.ResultsMean age and sex were similar between the groups. The NAFLD group presented higher frequency of proton-pump inhibitor usage (31.3% vs 4.8%; P < 0.001) and prevalence of FD (25.0% versus 12.4%; P = 0.021). The symptom frequencies were as follows: postprandial distress, 22.9% versus 11.4% (P = 0.030); postprandial fullness, 18.8% versus 10.5% (P = 0.095); early satiation, 8.3% versus 5.7% (P = 0.466); and epigastric pain or burning, 18.8% versus 5.7% (P = 0.004), in NAFLD patients and controls, respectively. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that female sex (odds ratio, OR 6.97; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.51-32.12; P = 0.013) and NAFLD diagnosis (OR 2.45; 95% CI: 1.14-5.27; P = 0.021) were independently associated with FD occurrence.ConclusionFD occurs more frequently in individuals with NAFLD than in controls without hepatic disease.

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