title: Comparisons of symptoms reported by elderly and non-elderly patients with GERD.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The characteristics of symptoms reported by elderly patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) have not been fully investigated. We performed this study to clarify these characteristics in elderly patients with GERD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study subjects were 340 Japanese patients with symptoms of heartburn and/or acid regurgitation. All patients were investigated by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and were asked about the presence of atypical GERD symptoms, such as an epigastric burning sensation, epigastralgia, epigastric discomfort, and abdominal fullness, as well as the time of day when bothersome symptoms occurred.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 340 patients, 161 were elderly (≥65 years old) and 179 were non-elderly (age <65 years). There were 158 patients without esophageal mucosal breaks, 147 with low-grade reflux esophagitis (RE; Los Angeles classification grade A or B), and 35 with high-grade reflux esophagitis (LA grade C or D). Elderly patients with RE reported typical reflux symptoms at the same frequency as the non-elderly patients, whereas elderly patients without mucosal breaks reported typical symptoms more frequently than the non-elderly patients without mucosal breaks. Both elderly and non-elderly patients with different types of GERD reported that their symptoms occurred most frequently during the postprandial period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly patients with GERD tend to show typical GERD symptoms frequently at the typical post-prandial time points in a day, irrespective of the presence of esophageal mucosal breaks.
authors: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Shimane University, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane 693-8501, Japan. kfuruta@med.shimane-u.ac.jp
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Furuta
authors: Yoshinori
authors: Y
authors: Kushiyama
authors: Kousaku
authors: K
authors: Kawashima
authors: Kotaro
authors: K
authors: Shibagaki
authors: Yoshinori
authors: Y
authors: Komazawa
authors: Hirofumi
authors: H
authors: Fujishiro
authors: Naoto
authors: N
authors: Kitajima
authors: Kyoichi
authors: K
authors: Adachi
authors: Yoshikazu
authors: Y
authors: Kinoshita
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019518:Postprandial Period