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Editor,—We read with great interest the paper by Gorard et al (Gut 1996;39: 551–5) on intestinal transit in patients with anxiety and depression. The authors used the lactulose hydrogen breath test to evaluate 21 consecutive outpatients attending a general psychiatry clinic who fulfilled DSM III R criteria for major depression or generalised anxiety disorders, or both. They reported a significantly prolonged orocaecal transit time (OCTT) in depressed patients compared with anxious patients, and a significant correlation between whole gut transit time and the score of the psychometric tests used to assess depression, showing evidence for an association between severity of depression and colon inertia. The authors conclude that depressed patients tend to be constipated and that mood has an effect on intestinal motor function, although mechanisms by which mood can alter colonic motility remain unknown.
Recently, we found a significantly prolonged OCTT in patients with chronic alcoholism without severe liver disease compared with social drinkers and teetotal subjects.1 Thirty one alcoholic patients without diseases which …