Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic disease highly associated with several pulmonary disease and sleep disorders leading to a negative impact on the quality of life. Aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between these disorders and the health-related quality of life.
Methods: Patients were recruited from the Department of Medical Sciences, Surgical and Advanced Technologies, GF Ingrassia, University of Catania, from October 2015 to May 2016. Enrolled patients were classified by different symptomology severity presentation according to the Reflux, Airway and Sleep Questionnaire (RASQ). General data, modified GERD impact scores and the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) questionnaire scores of these patients were analyzed.
Results: A total of 173 patients were included into the study. Patients with moderate severity of airway symptoms had a significant lower SF-36 scores than those with mild severity. Patients with advanced sleeping difficulties severity owned the lowest scores among all cases. The impact to the daily activity of each affected individuals had a positive association with the severity of airway and sleeping disorders.
Conclusions: The severity of these reflux-related disorders is well correlated with a significant negative impact on the normal daily activity. The cases with advanced severity of sleeping difficulties had the worst well-being.