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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Simultaneous Laryngopharyngeal and Conventional Esophageal pH Monitoring
Published on: December 14, 2020
Quality of life in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux
Ting Kin Cheung1, Paul K Y Lam, William Ignace Wei
1Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, SAR, China.
Background:
Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) disease is an extraesophageal manifestation of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The impact of GERD-related LPR on the psychological well-being and quality of life (QOL) in Chinese is not known.
Aim:
To assess the QOL in patients with LPR disease.
Methods:
76 LPR and 73 healthy subjects were recruited. Psychological well-being was assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score and QOL was assessed by SF-36.
Results:
51/76 (67.1%) patients had GERD-related LPR. More LPR subjects had taken sick leave (36.2 vs. 5.6%, p = 0.001) and reported adverse social life impact (60.5 vs. 38.9%, p = 0.013). LPR patients showed significantly worse results on the Voice Handicap Index (47.8 vs. 7.6, p = 0.001), were more anxious and had worse QOL in social functioning, pain and general health perception domains of SF-36. GERD-related LPR subjects had a higher depression score (4.8 vs. 3.8, p = 0.014) and a lower mental summary score (41.8 vs. 48.4, p = 0.01) in SF-36 compared with those without GERD.
Conclusions:
LPR had a negative impact on psychological status, social functioning and QOL. GERD symptoms appeared to be the main contributor to decrease QOL. GERD-related LPR patients had a significant impact on the mental component of their QOL.
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