Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Dec;3(4):259-65.
doi: 10.5009/gnl.2009.3.4.259. Epub 2009 Dec 31.

Relationship between Psychological Factors and Quality of Life in Subtypes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Jung-Hwan Oh  1 , Tae-Suk Kim, Myung-Gyu Choi, Hyeug Lee, Eun-Jung Jeon, Sang-Wook Choi, Chul Lee, In-Sik Chung
Affiliations

Relationship between Psychological Factors and Quality of Life in Subtypes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Jung-Hwan Oh et al. Gut Liver. 2009 Dec.

Abstract

Background/aims: Quality of life (QoL) is consistently decreased in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but the relationship between QoL and psychological factors in GERD has not yet been clearly defined. The present study investigated the relationship between the psychological factors of two subtypes of GERD and QoL.

Methods: A cohort of 769 participants underwent upper endoscopic evaluation in the health-promotion center of St. Paul's Hospital. The severity of GERD symptoms, psychological factors, and QoL were analyzed using the Visual Analogue Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument, respectively.

Results: Among the total of 769 participants, 153 participants were included in the exclusion criteria. Erosive reflux disease (ERD) and nonerosive reflux disease (NERD) were present in 106 (14%) and 61 (8%) of the participants, respectively, and 449 (58%) acted as controls. In each GERD group, the QoL had no correlatioion with the symptom severity. The scores for anxiety and depression were highest in the NERD group, and QoL scores were lower in both the ERD and NERD groups than in the control group. Anxiety and depression resulted in QoL scores being lower in both the ERD and NERD groups than in the nonanxiety and nondepressed groups, respectively.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the QoL associated with the ERD and NERD subtypes may be more related to psychological factors than to symptom severity.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Gastroesophageal reflux; Psychology; Quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Differences between scores on the anxiety (A) and depression (B) subscales of the HADS and on quality of life (C) of the WHOQOL-BREF in the ERD, NERD, and control groups. HADS, hospital anxiety and depression scale; WHOQOL-BREF, the abbreviated version of World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument; ERD, erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease; NERD, non-erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Differences in the total score of WHOQOL-BREF according to the presence of anxiety or depression in the ERD (A) and NERD (B) groups. WHOQOL-BREF, the abbreviated version of World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument; ERD, erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease; NERD, non-erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agreus L, Svardsudd K, Talley NJ, Jones MP, Tibblin G. Natural history of gastroesophageal reflux disease and functional abdominal disorders: a population-based study. Am J Gastroenterol. 2001;96:2905–2914. - PubMed
    1. Locke GR, 3rd, Talley NJ, Fett SL, Zinsmeister AR, Melton LJ., 3rd Prevalence and clinical spectrum of gastroesophageal reflux: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota. Gastroenterology. 1997;112:1448–1456. - PubMed
    1. Wong WM, Lai KC, Lam KF, et al. Prevalence, clinical spectrum and health care utilization of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in a Chinese population: a population-based study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2003;18:595–604. - PubMed
    1. Yang SY, Lee OY, Bak YT, et al. Prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms and uninvestigated dyspepsia in Korea: a population-based study. Dig Dis Sci. 2008;53:188–193. - PubMed
    1. Goh KL. Changing epidemiology of gastroesophageal reflux disease in the Asian-Pacific region: an overview. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2004;19(Suppl 3):S22–S25. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources