Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the Greek general population, prevalence and risk factors

Nikolaos Spantideas; Eirini Drosou; Anastasia Bougea; Dimitrios Assimakopoulos

doi:10.1186/s12901-015-0020-2

Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the Greek general population, prevalence and risk factors

BMC Ear Nose Throat Disord. 2015 Dec 21:15:7. doi: 10.1186/s12901-015-0020-2. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Nikolaos Spantideas¹, Eirini Drosou², Anastasia Bougea³, Dimitrios Assimakopoulos⁴

Affiliations

¹ Athens Speech Language and Swallowing Institute, 10 Lontou Street, Glyfada, Athens, 16675 Greece.
² Athens Speech Language and Swallowing Institute, 37 Oinois Street, Glyfada, Athens, 16674 Greece.
³ Athens Speech and Language Institute, 1 Griva Digeni Street, Agios Dimitrios, Athens, 17342 Greece.
⁴ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Medical School of Ioannina University, 51 Napoleontos Zerva Street, Ioannina, 45332 Greece.

Abstract

Background: To assess the prevalence of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) in the Greek general population and its risk factors.

Methods: Questionnaire based epidemiological, adult participants' survey. The Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) was used for the assessment of LPR prevalence. The RSI questionnaire was completed by 340 (183 male and 157 female) randomly selected subjects. Subjects with RSI score ≥13 were considered as LPR patients and those with RSI score <13 were considered as non LPR subjects.

Results: The prevalence of LPR in the general Greek population was found to be 18.8 % with no statistically significant difference between the two genders (p > 0.05). The age group of 50-64 years showed the higher prevalence rate. Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption were found to be related with LPR. No reported concomitant disease or medication was found to be related with LPR.

Conclusions: LPR prevalence in the Greek general population was found to be 18.8 %. Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption were found to be related with LPR.

Keywords: Epidemiologic study; Gastroesophageal reflux; Laryngopharyngeal reflux; Reflux; Risk factors.