Psychological Factors, Quality of Life, and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Patients with Erosive and Non-Erosive Reflux Disorder

OBJECTIVE: Inconsistent findings are published regarding the psychosocial characteristics of erosive reflux disorder (ERD) and non-erosive reflux disorder (NERD) patients. The objective of this study was to determine the possible similarities and differences concerning psychosocial and somatic characteristics of these patients. METHOD: Patients at a tertiary care center completed questionnaires on demographic characteristics, frequency of reflux symptoms, psychological distress, quality of life, and gastrointestinal symptoms. For comparative purposes, data from an age-matched healthy control group were obtained. RESULTS: Higher proportion of female patients and a younger mean age was observed in NERD patients. No significant differences were detected regarding levels of psychological distress, gastrointestinal symptom severity, quality of life, and frequency of reflux symptoms. Both patient groups exhibited more severe psychological distress compared to healthy subjects. Only ERD patients demonstrated significant correlations between frequency of reflux symptoms and quality of life and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms. Compared to ERD patients, NERD patients showed stronger correlation between psychological distress and severity of reflux symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Reflux-like symptoms have a strong impact on patients' wellbeing, irrespective of endoscopical findings. The different patterns of associations between psychological, somatic and quality of life parameters in NERD and ERD patients can have theoretical and clinical implications.