Objective: We undertook an investigation of the relationship between psychosocial work stress and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection with dyspepsia.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 189 employees of a health insurance company in the city of Ulm, Germany.
Results: A clear association between work-related psychosocial factors and the occurrence of dyspeptic symptoms during the past 3 months was evident. Persons who were considered to have a critical style of coping with work demands suffered more often from dyspeptic symptoms. Current infection with H. pylori was not associated with prevalence of dyspeptic symptoms. These results were also confirmed by adjustment for age, gender, smoking status, education, and use of antiinflammatory drugs within the past 3 months, by means of multivariate analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for having a dyspepsia symptom score in the upper tertile versus the 1st or 2nd was 3.22 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56-6.65), given that the employee was considered to have a critical style of coping with work demands. The OR for having a dyspepsia symptom score in the upper tertile given H. pylori infection was 1.23 (95% CI, 0.44-3.46), indicating no association of current H. pylori infection with dyspeptic symptoms.
Conclusions: A critical style of coping with work demands may be an important determinant for dyspepsia-like symptoms. Therefore, in the absence of an underlying disease, specific intervention programs should be targeted at the behavior of the affected individual (e.g., stress-reduction programs) rather than on the treatment of specific symptoms or infection with H. pylori.