Investigation on psychological status and its relationship with Helicobacter pylori infection in servicemen from a Chinese army unit

Objective To understand the mental health status of officers and soldiers (OSs) in a Chinese army unit, and analyze its relationship with Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection. Methods Cross sectional extraction of 1293 male soldiers from a certain unit of Chinese army in September 2015, aged 17-37 years old, average age 20.5±3.2. Using the symptom self rating scale (SCL-90) to conduct a psychological evaluation, comparison between the evaluation results and the Chinese military norm was conducted to understand the mental health status of OSs in the unit. 13C-urea breath test was used to detect H.pylori infection, and the relationship between the positivity rate of various factors, the SCL-90 score and H.pylori infection were analyzed. Ninety OSs who had desire to eradicate H.pylori serves as the experimental group, and 90 H.pylori-infected OSs as control group. The experimental group received quadruple-drug eradication therapy, control group received no drug treatment. SCL-90 scores before and after the treatment were compared, and SCL-90 scores after treatment in the experimental group and those in the control group were also compared for analyzing the relationship between the OSs psychological status and H.pylori infection. Results The SCL-90 score of the OSs was lower than the norm of Chinese army, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The psychological screening positive rate was higher in H.pylori-positive OSs than H.pylori-negative those and the positive rates of psychological screening factors somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility and paranoid were higher in H.pylori-positive OSs than in H.Pylorinegative those, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). After the eradication of H.pylori in the experimental group these factor scores were lower than those before eradication. Compared with control group SCL-90 scores, soldiers somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, paranoid factor score in experimental group after treatment were lower, the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). Conclusion The mental health is better in OSs in this unit, the negative mental status is obvious in H.pylori-infected OSs than in H.pylori-negative those, and to eradicate H.pylori can improve their psychological state. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2017.02.1