Gender differences in ghrelin, nociception genes, psychological factors and quality of life in functional dyspepsia

Table 2 Expression of plasma ghrelin, gastric peproghrelin and nociception-related genes in the control and functional dyspepsia groups

Variables	Control (n = 87)			FD (n = 104)			P value1
	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Control vs FD	Control2	FD2
	(n = 87)	(n = 38)	(n = 49)	(n = 104)	(n = 39)	(n = 65)
Plasma acyl ghrelin (fmol/mL, median [IQR])	14.1 (9.1-20.8)	15.9 (9.2-33.7)	12.2 (9.0-18.6)	11.2 (6.6-16.8)	10.4 (6.5-18.4)	11.4 (6.8-16.5)	0.018	0.204	0.388
Plasma des-acyl ghrelin(fmol/mL, median [IQR])	67.9 (37.5-162.5)	108 (31.8-212.9)	65.4 (38.2-111.0)	62.1 (32.2-110.6)	58.5 (28.8-134.3)	63.6 (32.2-108.0)	0.297	0.389	0.913
Ghrelin mRNA (median [IQR])	2.6 (0.7-4.9)	2.1 (0.5-4.2)	3.2 (1.0-6.1)	1.7 (0.4-5.4)	1.9 (0.4-9.0)	1.5 (0.3-4.7)	0.435	0.076	0.308
NGF mRNA (median [IQR])	1.1 (0.7-1.7)	1.2 (0.7-1.8)	0.9 (0.5-1.6)	1.6 (0.9-2.3)	1.8 (1.1-2.7)	1.4 (0.8-2.2)	0.006	0.056	0.129
GDNF mRNA (median [IQR])	1.0 (0.7-1.6)	1.2 (0.8-1.5)	0.9 (0.7-1.7)	1.8 (1.0-2.9)	1.6 (1.1-3.0)	1.9 (0.9-2.9)	< 0.001	0.404	0.992
TRPV1 mRNA (median [IQR])	1.0 (0.6-1.5)	1.1 (0.8-1.6)	0.9 (0.6-1.2)	1.4 (0.9-2.3)	1.4 (0.9-2.2)	1.4 (0.8-2.3)	0.006	0.102	0.584

¹Mann-Whitney test was used;

²Male vs female. FD: Functional dyspepsia; GDNF: Glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor; IQR: Interquartile range; NGF: Nerve growth factor; PDS: Postprandial distress syndrome; TRPV1: Transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1.