Abstract

Objectives : Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases. Nevertheless, there are many unknown mechanisms of autonomic functioning in FD patients. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between FD and biosignals from heart rate variability (HRV) and Yangdorak diagnosis. Methods : 32 patients (22 female, 10 male; mean age 40) and 32 healthy volunteers (21 female, 11 malemean; age 38) participated in this study. First gastrointestinal symptoms rating scale (GSRS) was assessed by questionnaires in both groups to evaluate the types of gastrointestinal symptoms. Second, HRV and Yangdorak diagnosis were measured in both groups. Results : 1. The FD group in this study mainly had the complaint of 'bloating' symptoms. 2. There was statistically no significant difference between Yangdorak (total average and 24 acupoints) and HRV values except logarithmic low-frequency band (lnLF) and total power (TP) in frequency domain. 3. There was statistically no significant relationship between HRV and Yangdorak in either group. However, most Yangdorak values were positively related with some HRV values (low-frequency, low-frequency/high-frequency ratio and high-frequency, etc) in the control group. Conclusions : FD patients had relatively lesser sympathetic domain than healthy subjects, indicated by decreased lnLF and TP. Particularly, there were positive relationships and significant differences between Yangdorak and HRV in young healthy subjects. This suggests that biosignals from HRV may be a useful method that can differentiate FD from healthy state in those of young age.

Keywords

• Functional dyspepsia (FD);
• heart rate variability (HRV);
• Yangdorak diagnosis