Impact of Overlapping Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders on the Presentation and Quality of Life of Patients with Erosive Esophagitis and Nonerosive Reflux Disease

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of overlapping functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) on the quality of life of patients with nonerosive reflux disease (NERD) and erosive esophagitis (EE). Materials and Methods: Data from patients with NERD and EE were collected between January 2009 and March 2010. These cases were further stratified into the subgroups of overlapping NERD-functional dyspepsia (FD), NERD-irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), EE-FD, EE-IBS, and NERD or EE alone according to the symptoms. All patients completed the modified Chinese GERDQ and the SF-36 questionnaires. Results: Of the 222 enrolled patients, 96 (43.2%) had NERD and 126 (56.8%) had EE. Overlap of FGID occurred in 43.8-45.8% of the NERD patients, and in 41.3-44.4% of EE cases. The impact of overlapping FGID on patient quality of life was greater in the patients with overlapping NERD-FD compared to those with NERD alone (mean SF-36 total scores 59 vs. 72, adjusted p = 0.025) and the cases with overlapping EE-FD compared to those with EE alone (mean SF-36 total scores 53.19 vs. 73.11, adjusted p = 0.047). There were no significant differences between the individuals with overlapping NERD/EE-IBS and those with NERD/EE alone. Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of overlapping FGID, with both FD and IBS, among the GERD patients. The individuals with overlapping GERD and FD had lower quality of life scores than those with GERD alone.