Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders

To evaluate the association between the parameters of 24-hour multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII)-pH monitoring and the symptoms or quality of life (QoL) in laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) patients, the authors conducted this study prospectively. 45 LPR patients were selected from subjects who underwent 24-hour MII-pH monitoring and were diagnosed with LPR from September 2014 to May 2015 in a tertiary teaching hospital. Reflux Symptom Index (RSI), Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), Short Form 12 (SF-12) Survey questionnaires were surveyed. Spearman correlation was used to analyze the association between the symptoms or QoL and 24-hr MII-pH monitoring. As a result, most parameters in 24-hr MII-pH monitoring showed weak or no correlation with RSI, HRQoL, and SF-12. Only number of nonacid reflux events that reached the larynx and pharynx (LPR-nonacid) and number of total reflux events that reached the larynx and pharynx (LPR-total) parameters showed strong correlation with heartburn in RSI (R=0.520, p<0.001, R=0.478, p=0.001, respectively). Multiple regression analysis showed that there was only one significant regression coefficient between LPR-nonacid and voice/hoarseness portion of HRQoL (b=1.719, p=0.022). In conclusion, most parameters of 24-hour MII-pH monitoring did not reflect subjective symptoms or QoL in patients with LPR in this study