Abstract: Objective To investigate the risk factors of cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) in serviceman. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted in 1 000 army servicemen in the middle region of China from March 2012 to June 2012. Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) were diagnosed based on the Rome III Modular Questionnaire. All subjects completed symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90) to assess the psychological status and Pittsburgh sleep quality index questionnaire to evaluate the sleep quality. Chinese version of reflux disease questionnaire score≥12 were diagnosed as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Negative life events were investigated using trauma history screening questionnaire. The stress events including family, learning, working, emotional, interpersonal and environmental pressure were recorded. Results Based on 913 eligible questionnaires, 60 servicemen were diagnosed as CVS (CVS group) and 491 as without FGIDs (control group). More servicemen in CVS group had smoking history and overlapped with GERD when compared with those in control group (P＜ 0.05). Age, negative life events and stress events scores, sleep quality score and SCL-90 total score in CVS group were statistically higher than those in control group (AllP＜ 0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed SCL-90 total score (OR=1.038, P＜ 0.001), smoking (OR=2.785, P=0.026, vs never smoking; OR=5.102, P=0.04, vs ever smoking) and age (OR=1.131, P=0.008) were the risk factors for CVS in servicemen (P＜ 0.05). Conclusion The pathogenesis of CVS in servicemen may be closely correlated with psychiatric and psychological factors as well as smoking and age.