Evaluation of gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life in patients with gastroscopy

In the study, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life in patients who underwent gastroscopy but whose symptoms did not have an organic cause. The study sample consisted of 128 patients who underwent gastroscopy in the Endoscopy Unit of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Training and Research Hospital and fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The data were collected by the researcher between March-August 2024 by using the 'Patient Information Collection Form' and 'Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index' by face-to-face interview in an average of 20-30 minutes. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, Kolmogrow Smirnov test, Kurtosis and Skewness tests, Independent t test, ANOVA and simple linear regression tests were used to evaluate the data. In the study, the mean Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index main symptoms subscale score was 19.77±7.53, the mean physical symptoms subscale score was 13.51±5.62, the mean psychological symptoms subscale score was 14.07±4.85, the mean social symptoms subscale score was 11.18±2.82 and the mean disease-dependent symptoms subscale score was 28.67±6.52. The mean total score of the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index was 87.22±21.19 and the mean total score of the frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in the last 15 days was 25.32±110.79. The total score of gastrointestinal symptom frequency was higher in patients whose severity of the symptom that was the reason for endoscopy was 9-10, who applied to the emergency department, who had a high frequency of intraoral wounds and who consumed yoghurt/buttermilk every day. The quality of life of male patients, those who were not stressed, those with symptom severity 3-5, those who did not apply to the emergency department, those who did not use stomach medication and painkillers, those who did not have intraoral wounds, those who did not consume snacks, and those who consumed yoghurt/buttermilk several times a week were found to have a higher and significant quality of life (p<0.05). In this direction, it is recommended that individual-specific nutrition, exercise and lifestyle change programmes should be developed by making the recognition of individual characteristics effective for patients whose symptoms persist and no organic cause can be found as a result of gastroscopy. Keywords: Etiological Factors, Gastrointestinal Symptoms, Gastroscopy, Unexplained Complaints, Quality of Life