title: The impact of lifestyle modification on the health-related quality of life of patients with reflux esophagitis receiving treatment with a proton pump inhibitor.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although lifestyle modification involving diet, exercise, cessation of smoking, etc. is generally advised for patients with reflux esophagitis (RE), few data that show its clinical benefits are available. We analyzed whether lifestyle modification improves health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Japanese patients with RE receiving the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) lansoprazole as a post hoc analysis of an observational study that investigated the effect of lansoprazole on HRQOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with RE received lansoprazole for 8 weeks. HRQOL was assessed using the 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8) and RE-specific HRQOL questionnaires at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. Physical and mental component summaries (PCS, MCS) and RE-specific summary (RES) scores were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 8,757 patients analyzed, 40.8% were advised regarding new lifestyle at the start of lansoprazole treatment (Group A), 33.3% were advised to continue the lifestyle as advised previously (Group B), and 25.9% did not receive any advice (Group C). The change in PCS from baseline at week 8 for Group A was 5.7 +/- 8.1, and this was significantly greater (P < 0.001) than the increases achieved in Groups B (4.3 +/- 7.5) and C (4.0 +/- 7.6). The changes in MCS and RES were also significantly greater in Group A than in the other groups. The changes in HRQOL scores from baseline were significantly greater in Group A than in the other groups, irrespective of baseline patient characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lifestyle modification may be clinically beneficial in terms of improving HRQOL in Japanese patients with RE who are receiving treatment with a PPI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Shimane University School of Medicine, Izumo, Shimane, Japan. kinosita@med.shimane-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ashida
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miwa
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hongo