Quality of life in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease in an Iranian population.
OBJECTIVE
The study was designed to evaluate quality of life (QOL) for Iranian patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).


BACKGROUND
GERD is a common and chronic world-wide disease. Impact of GERD on QOL has been studied in many countries, but it has not been studied in Iranian population.


METHODS
Fifty five patients suffering from GERD and fifty five age and sex matched controls were enrolled. Patient inclusion criteria were based on clinical and endoscopic findings. All other major diseases having an impact on QOL had been excluded. All the subjects were asked to fill the validated translation of SF-36 and GHQ-28 questionnaires. Results of the SF-36 questionnaire was analyzed directly and after correction for the results obtained from the GHQ-28 tool.


RESULTS
GERD patients had lower QOL scores than controls. Correction of the results based the findings of GHQ-28 questionnaire did not change the results.


CONCLUSIONS
QOL in GERD patients is impaired and should be considered in clinical practice and implementing research studies upon GERD patients.
Inflammatory Diseases of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Iradj
I
Maleki
Department of psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Abbas
A
Masoudzadeh
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Alireza
A
Khalilian
Inflammatory Diseases of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Elnaz
E
Daheshpour
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease; Iran; Mental health; Quality of Life; SF-36