Association between 24-hour combined multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring and symptoms or quality of life in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux

Objective 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. Design Prospective cohort study without controls. Setting University teaching hospital. Methods Forty five LPR patients were selected from subjects who underwent 24-hour MII-pH monitoring and were diagnosed with LPR from September 2014 to May 2015. 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. Results 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). Conclusion Most parameters of 24-hour MII-pH monitoring did not reflect subjective symptoms or QoL in patients with LPR. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.