Objective To explore the correlation between emotional factors and the pathological fingdings in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis（CAG）. Methods Cross sectional study was designed. The clinical questionnaire for CAG and the symptom checklist-90（SCL-90） were measured. The pathology of the stomach included atrophy

intestinal metaplasia

and dysplasia

and the severity of the results were classified as no

mild

moderate to severe. The correlation between emotional factors and pathological results was calculated. Results A total of 208 valid questionnaires from 90 males（43.3%） and 118 females（56.7） were included. The mean age of the patients was 56.6±11.4 years old（20 to 75）

and the course of the disease ranged from one month to 35 years. There were 64 positive SCL-90（30.8%） and 144 negative SCL-90（69.2%） patients. The severity degree of atrophy and intestinal metaplasia was not correlated to positive rate of SCL-90 scores（P>0.05）

and the positive SCL-90 rate increased with the aggravation of dysplasia（P<0.05）. Weak positive correlations were found between severity of atrophy and four emotional factors including depression

phobia

paranoia psychosis and the severity of atrophy（0<rs<1

P<0.05）; between intestinal metaplasia and two emotional factors including depression

phobia（0<rs<1

P<0.05）

and between severity of dysplasia and six emotional factors including obsessive-compulsive symptoms

interpersonal relationships

depression

anxiety

paranoia

psychosis（0<rs<1

P<0.05）. Conclusion Emotional factors may induce or aggravate CAG as they are positively correlated with the pathological results.