Clinical symptoms of FSSG in gastroesophageal reflux disease are critical for PPI treatment: Japanese multi-centers with 185 patients.
OBJECTIVE
The main aim of this study was to determine whether questionnaire evaluations of clinical symptoms in gastroesophageal reflux disease were useful to assess proton pump inhibitor therapy.


METHODS
A total of 185 Japanese patients (men, 88; women, 97; age: 55.7 ± 16.1 years) with gastroesophageal reflux disease were enrolled. The patients were divided based on the frequency scale for symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease: severe symptoms with scores ≥8 and mild symptoms with scores ≤7. Quality of life was evaluated with the Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey. All patients were treated with a proton pump inhibitor, rabeprazole (10 mg/day), for 8 weeks.


RESULTS
Patients were classified into four groups: reflux esophagitis with severe symptoms (n = 92, 49.7%); reflux esophagitis with mild symptoms (n = 17, 9.2%); non-erosive reflux disease with severe symptoms (n = 66, 35.7%); and non-erosive reflux disease with mild symptoms (n = 10, 5.4%). The dysmotility score was high in non-erosive reflux disease with severe symptoms compared with reflux esophagitis with severe symptoms (9.1 ± 0.5 vs 6.8 ± 0.5, P < 0.05). The symptom score and quality of life in the severe symptoms groups for both reflux esophagitis and non-erosive reflux disease were significantly improved by rabeprazole treatment. Only the reflux score was improved by rabeprazole in the reflux esophagitis with mild symptoms group; no therapeutic effect was observed for the non-erosive reflux disease with mild symptoms group.


CONCLUSIONS
Low scores on the frequency scale for the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease indicate poor responsiveness to proton pump inhibitor treatment, and high scores indicate good responsiveness.
Department of Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.
Mio
M
Komatsu-Tanaka
Ryuichi
R
Iwakiri
Kazuma
K
Fujimoto
Yasuhiro
Y
Fujiwara
Masahiko
M
Inamori
Junji
J
Tanaka
Tomohiko
T
Shimatani
Junichi
J
Akiyama
Takashi
T
Ando
Noriaki
N
Manabe
Fukunori
F
Kinjo
Ryuzo
R
Deguchi
Motoyasu
M
Kusano
D053799:2-Pyridinylmethylsulfinylbenzimidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000368:Aged; D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D011788:Quality of Life; D064750:Rabeprazole; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D053799:2-Pyridinylmethylsulfinylbenzimidazoles; D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors; D064750:Rabeprazole; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases