Gut Liver.  2014 Mar;8(2):165-169.

Symptom Characteristics and Psychosomatic Profiles in Different Spectrum of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

• Lim CH
• Choi MG
• Baeg MK
• Moon SJ
• Kim JS
• Cho YK
• Park JM
• Lee IS
• Kim SW
• Choi KY

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is diagnosed based on symptoms of heartburn and regurgitation but is a heterogeneous condition which can be subclassified according to endoscopy and esophageal reflux monitoring. The aim of this study was to identify differences in demographic characteristics and reflux symptom patterns among patients with various spectrum of GERD.
METHODS
Patients having weekly heartburn or acid regurgitation were classified into four pathophysiological subgroups according to endoscopy and pH monitoring: reflux esophagitis (RE), endoscopy-negative reflux disease with pathological reflux (PR+), hypersensitive esophagus (HE), and normal acid exposure with negative symptom association (pH-).
RESULTS
A total of 195 patients were enrolled. The numbers of patients in the subgroups were: RE, 39.0%; PR+, 20.0%; HE, 10.3%; and pH-, 30.8%. Grossly, reflux symptom patterns and relieving/exacerbating factors did not differ between subgroups. Prevalence of extraesophageal syndrome was higher in patients with PR+ than in other groups. Overlapping functional dyspepsia was common in all groups. The SCL-90-R depression score was higher in PR+ patients than in RE patients (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Demographic characteristics and reflux symptom patterns cannot differentiate pH- group from GERD subtypes. Esophageal pH monitoring could be considered for the initial evaluation of GERD in the tertiary referral setting.

Keyword

Gastroesophageal reflux; Demographic characteristics; Symptom characteristic; Psychosomatic factor; Esophageal reflux monitoring

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Depressive Disorder/etiology
Esophageal pH Monitoring
Esophagitis, Peptic/complications/diagnosis
Female
Gastroesophageal Reflux/complications/*diagnosis/psychology
Humans
Irritable Bowel Syndrome/complications
Male
Middle Aged
Psychophysiologic Disorders/etiology
Questionnaires
Retrospective Studies
Young Adult