Presence Of Gastroesophageal Disease Research Articles

Sensitivity, Specificity, and Reproducibility of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of the Reflux Symptom Index

The diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux is controversial. There is currently no gold standard, so it relies mainly on suspicious clinical symptoms and videolaryngoscopic findings. Unfortunately these signs and symptoms are common to other causes of chronic laryngitis. Scoring systems have been proposed to reduce subjectivity in clinical diagnosis. The most widely used and accepted is the Reflux Symptom Index, which has already been translated into over 10 other languages. Study the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Reflux Symptom Index (Índice de Sintomas de Refluxo - ISR). One hundred and fifty-four adults, 88 with laryngopharyngeal reflux and 66 healthy controls, were studied over a 6-month period, responding to the ISR after thoroughly investigated on possible other causes of chronic laryngitis and the presence of gastroesophageal disease. Test and retest reliability was addressed by reapplying the score to a random subgroup of 101 subjects. The ISR of subjects was significantly higher than that of controls (Student t test for independent samples, P < 0.001). The ISR also showed high temporal stability and reproducibility (ICC of 0.988 with a confidence interval of 0.982-0.992). The ISR at a cutoff of 13 points presented a sensitivity of 78.4%, a specificity of 95.4%, a false negative of 4.55%, a false positive of 21.59%, a positive predictive value of 95.83%, and a negative predictive value of 86.93%. The ISR proved to be a valid and reliable diagnostic tool.

The risk of developing post-arthroscopic shoulder stiffness is increased by the presence of gastroesophageal disorders

Aim The aim of this study was to document the incidence of post-arthroscopic shoulder stiffness (SS) and evaluate the role of certain or supposed risk factors in the development of this pathology. Background Postoperative SS is a complication of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, which incidence has been reported variably in literature. Numerous risk factors have been described but gastroesophageal diseases have not yet been mentioned among them. Methods Two hundred and fourteen consecutive patients aged between 18 and 75 years with symptomatic degenerative posterosuperior rotator cuff tears that had failed conservative therapy and underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were included. The incidence of post-operative SS and the presence of potential risk factors were documented prospectively. The presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease was specifically investigated with the GERDq questionnaire. Results The incidence of post-arthroscopic SS in the included patients was 7.9%. All but two patients were women, and sex was significantly associated to the development of the pathology (P = 0.0007). Both the presence of a subjective digestive discomfort (P = 0.0042) and the diagnosis gastroesophageal reflux disease (P = 0.0004) were found to be significantly associated with the development of post-arthroscopic SS. A present or past smoking habit were significantly associated with the absence of post-arthroscopic SS (P = 0.0443). Conclusions A significant association between the occurrence of post-arthroscopic SS and the presence of gastroesophageal diseases was identified. This finding deserves investigations with further studies. The incidence of post-arthroscopic SS encountered in this study falls among previously reported ranges, with females being significantly more affected than men.