title: [The clinical significance of typical reflux symptoms in diagnosing gastroesophageal reflux disease].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the clinical significance of typical reflux symptoms in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients older than 16 years, who initially visited department of gastroenterology at clinic of Peking University Third Hospital from May 9, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012, were required to complete a self-reported GERD questionnaire. Upper endoscopy was performed in some selected patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 18 987 patients were enrolled with a response rate of 91.5%. The prevalence of symptom-defined GERD was 13.6% (2 579/18 987). A total of 4 357 (22.9%) patients underwent the upper endoscopy, and the diagnostic rates of reflux esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus, peptic ulcer disease, and upper gastrointestinal malignancy were 13.1% (572/4 357), 1.8% (78/4 357), 10.5% (456/4 357), and 1.7% (75/4 357), respectively. The incidence of reflux esophagitis was 22.7% (216/951) in patients with reflux symptoms and 10.5% (356/3 406) (P < 0.001) in patients without reflux symptoms, 2.7% (26/951) and 1.5% (52/3 406), respectively (P = 0.013) for Barrett's esophagus; 6.8% (65/951) and 11.5% (391/3 406), respectively (P < 0.001) for peptic ulcer disease; 1.7% (16/951) and 1.7% (59/3 406), respectively (P = 0.917) for upper gastrointestinal malignancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GERD is one of the major diseases at gastroenterology clinic. Typical reflux symptoms suggest a diagnosis of GERD. But some patients with peptic ulcer disease or upper gastrointestinal malignancy can also present typical reflux symptoms. Upper endoscopy is valuable to avoid the misdiagnosis of other disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. Email: zhoumed@126.com.
authors.forename: Liya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Shifang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Yaopeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Shigang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Sanren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors