Objective  To examine the prevalence and risk factors of functional dyspepsia among minority rural residents living in southern area of Guizhou province and to provide references for taking corresponding interventions.

  Methods  A total of 98 877 minority permanent rural residents (≥20 years old) were randomly selected with cluster random sampling from Qiannan prefecture of Guizhou province and surveyed with a face-to-face interview, physical examination, and other diagnostic tests between October 2016 and December 2017．

  Results  Totally 18 432 functional dyspepsia (FD) cases were diagnosed; the prevalence rate of FD was 18.64% and the standardized prevalence rate was 18.59% among the participants. Unconditional multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed following risk factors of FD: female gender (odds ratio OR = 3.334, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.237 – 5.883), age 40 – 79 years (OR = 2.195 – 4.628), Buyi nationality (OR = 3.411, 95% CI: 1.635 – 5.195), Shui nationality (OR = 2.524, 95% CI: 1.034 – 3.572), education of primary school and below (OR = 3.424, 95% CI: 1.535 – 3.074), family history of FD (OR = 3.415, 95% CI: 1.321 – 5.897), body mass index-based emaciation (OR = 3.306, 95% CI: 1.122 – 4.969), preference for salty food (OR = 3.901, 95% CI: 1.431 – 4.706), preference for cold and uncooked food (OR = 3.862, 95% CI: 1.352 – 5.989), having light physical labor (OR = 3.321, 95% CI: 1.243 – 4.197), drinking water < 500 ml per day (OR = 3.226, 95% CI: 1.227 – 4.778), with sleeping time of < 5 hours per day (OR = 3.764, 95% CI: 1.232 – 5.009), taking medicine for a long time (OR = 2.867, 95% CI: 1245 – 3.782), constipation (OR = 3.157, 95% CI: 1.339 – 5.812), and with long duration of stress or anxiety (OR = 4.511, 95% CI: 1.542 – 6.998); the analysis also showed that living in an area with the altitude of higher than 1 500 meters was a protective factor for FD (OR = 3.483, 95% CI: 1.335 – 4.792).

  Conclusion  The prevalence rate of functional dyspepsia is relative high among minority rural residents living in southern area of Guizhou province and interventions on risk factors of functional dyspepsia should be conducted among the population.