he effect of Buspirone on symptoms and quality of life in patients with functional dyspepsia

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a heterogeneous disorder of yet unknown etiology which causes a significant reduction in the quality of life. In this study, we compared the effect of buspirone as an agonist of serotonin 5HT1A receptor with amitriptyline and placebo on improving the symptoms and quality of life in patients with functional dyspepsia.

This study was a double-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial. Using a sequential sampling, patients with the diagnostic criteria of Rome 2 and normal gastrointestinal findings were selected. The subjects were randomly divided into three therapeutic groups receiving amitriptyline, buspirone, and placebo. We used Nepean Dyspepsia Inde (NDI) to evaluate the quality of life before and after the treatment.

The mean age of subjects was 35.38±12.94 years. Symptom and quality of life scores of the three groups were equal at the beginning but at the end of treatment, these scores were different. Buspirone was more effective than both amitriptyline and placebo in reducing the symptom of early satiety. Buspirone showed a better improvement in quality of life compared to placebo. Both Buspirone and amitriptyline were more effective than placebo in decreasing the symptom of epigastric pain.

Our study confirmed the positive effect of buspirone on the quality of life and symptoms (like early satiety and abdominal pain) in patients with functional dyspepsia. Since the mechanism of action of buspirone and also the pathophysiology of functional dyspepsia are still unknown, further studies are necessary to clarify every aspect of the disease and therapeutic effects of various treatments on it.