Efficacy of the addition of prokinetics for proton pump inhibitor (PPI) resistant non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) patients: significance of frequency scale for the symptom of GERD (FSSG) on decision of treatment strategy

Abstract

Background: Non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) is a more difficult to treat than reflux esophagitis (RE) due to the high prevalence of PPI resistance. Consequently, the treatment strategy for NERD is yet to be established.

Patients and methods: Subjects were 467 GERD patients (NERD 349, RE 118, 47.4 +/- 16.7 years) with reflux symptoms such as heartburn. PPI was administered for 2 weeks, and total score (TS) of symptoms, seven items of reflux symptoms e.g. heartburn (reflux score: RS), and five items of dyspeptic symptoms e.g. heavy stomach (dyspeptic score: DS) were assessed using the frequency scale for the symptoms of GERD (FSSG), a GERD-specific questionnaire developed in Japan. Improvement <50% in TS was defined as non-responder. Patients' background, and pretreatment TS, RS, DS, and 12 items of FSSG were assessed. Furthermore, the effect of additional prokinetics (4 weeks) for 117 PPI non-response NERD patients was also examined.

Results: Younger age, constipation, higher TS, DS, F2 (bloated stomach), 3 (heavy stomach), 5 (sick feeling after meal), 8 (satiety during meal) in FSSG were factors to be PPI non-responders in NERD. Significant improvement in TS were observed (pretreatment: 17.4 +/- 7.7 vs. 2 weeks 14.6 +/- 6.0 vs. 6 weeks 7.7 +/- 5.2, p<0.0001) after the addition of prokinetics in PPI non-response NERD.

Conclusion: Younger age, constipation, dysmotility were factors of PPI non-response in NERD. As high DS is correlated with PPI non-response, it is indicated that patients with strong dysmotility and functional dyspepsia complication might be PPI resistant. The efficacy of additional prokinetics for PPI non-response NERD was observed.