![Sample our Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5944/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Medicine-Dentistry-Nursing-Allied-Health.jpg"})
Abstract
Background: Symptoms are essential in the clinical diagnosis of gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). Questionnaires such as GerdQ have been developed as diagnostic aids. GerdQ has been thoroughly validated in well-characterized GERD patients, but has not yet been fully evaluated in a population that includes subjects with atypical symptoms.
Aim: To evaluate GerdQ in a population with typical and/or atypical symptoms of GERD, defined by 24-h pH monitoring. The secondary aim was to investigate the outcome of GerdQ depending on the response to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment.
Methods: The study included 646 subjects referred for 24-h pH monitoring due to a clinical suspicion of GERD. All subjects completed GerdQ before performing a 24-h pH monitoring.
Results: In total, 377 (58%) subjects were diagnosed with GERD based on symptoms and 24-h pH monitoring (GERDpH). Of these, 46% had atypical main symptoms. Overall, GerdQ (at cut-off 8) predicted GERDpH with a sensitivity and specificity of 62% and 74%, respectively. A high specificity but poor sensitivity for diagnosis of GERDpH was found for atypical main symptoms such as cough, dysphagia and globus. GerdQ had a relatively high sensitivity and specificity in predicting PPI response and a PPV of 99% at cut-off 8.
Conclusions: GerdQ has a diagnostic value in an unselected population presenting with typical and/or atypical symptoms of GERD, but a low sensitivity for diagnosis of GERDpH was found in subjects with predominant symptoms such as cough, dysphagia and globus.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.