Assessment of life quality in the patients with duodenal ulcer treated by melatonin therapy of under conditions of European North

Objective: to estimate the quality of life (QOL) in the patients with duodenal ulcers residing in the North European part of Russia and treated by melatonin therapy in addition to standard anti-ulcer therapy using the GSRS questionnaire. Materials and methods: the study involved 80 patients with uncomplicated duodenal ulcer in the acute stage randomized into 2 groups: group I (n= 40) given three-component treatment (omeprazole, clarithromycin, amoxicillin) with the addition of melatonin and group 2 (control, n=40) given the same therapy but without melatonin. Taking into account the peculiarities of photoperiodicity in the study region, group 1 was subdivided into subgroups A and B and group 2 into subgroups C and D (A and C- received treatment from March to August; and B and D-from September to February). The quality of life was assessed based on the Russian-language version of GSRS before and on day 14 after onset of therapy. The clinical picture of the disease in groups 1 and 2 before treatment was dominated by abdominal (AU) and reflux (RS) syndromes. On 14 after onset of therapy, life quality improved in both groups but to a lesser degree in group 2 than in group 1 due to significantly more pronounced abdominal pain and reflux syndrome as well as worse results of evaluation from GSRS. In all subgroups, the number of GSRS points on the whole and for each scale of the questionnaire decreased on the 14th day of therapy . However, subgroup C showed a higher prevalence of abdominal pain and reflux syndrome than subgroup A as well as poorer GSRS-based estimates. Subgroup B differed in a similar way from subgroup D. Conclusion: anti-ulcer therapy in combination with melatonin is more effective than without it especially if started in a period of growing daylight duration and its maximum.