Prevalence of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in patients with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Objective: To study the prevalence of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and report the correlation between LPRD and glycemic control, duration of the disease, and presence of neuropathy.

Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 100 patients with T2DM and 33 controls matched according to age and gender. The reflux symptom index (RSI) was used to assess the presence of LPRD. A score greater than 10 was considered diagnostic of LPRD.

Results: Twenty-two percent of patients with T2DM had RSI above 10 versus 9.1% of controls. The difference was not statistically different (P value of 0.100). The average score of all symptoms of LPRD was higher in the diabetic group compared with the control group. There was a significant increase in the average score of "throat clearing" and "lump sensation in throat," with a borderline significant increase in "annoying cough" in patients with diabetes versus controls (respective P values of 0.03, 0.025, and 0.066). There was no correlation between LPRD and any of the demographic variables except neuropathy.

Conclusion: Patients with T2DM are more likely to have LPRD compared with controls. However, the prevalence of LPRD is not significantly higher in diabetic patients compared with controls. When present, LPRD correlates with neuropathy.

Level of evidence: 2c.