Visceral Hypervigilance and Visceral Anxiety Are Associated with Dysphagia

Dysphagia is frequently investigated with high-resolution manometry (HRM) and then attributed to detected motility abnormalities. Despite this attribution, confirming that causal association has often been challenging, as the same motility findings can be present in those without dysphagia. Patients with dysphagia and no demonstrable motility abnormalities are labeled as having “functional dysphagia” and frequently have associated anxiety and hypervigilance.

To better understand the contribution of anxiety and hypervigilance to dysphagia symptom severity, researchers added two validated psychological questionnaires to a prospective study of clinically indicated HRM findings in 236 patients. Twenty-five percent of the patients had a major eso…