Abstract
Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a type of reflux, seen with complaints of hoarseness, chronic cough, and globus sensation, different from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and practices of family physicians and trainees who were being trained in medical branches other than ENT and to determine the effective factors on decision making for diagnosis of this disorder. The study was designed as a two-stage study. At the first stage, a data collection tool, involving 29 questions by which the knowledge, awareness, and applications of the physicians about LPR would be determined, was developed with 12 specialists, using Delphi method. At the second stage, 101 family physicians replied the questionnaire online. For 45 trainees other than ENT, the questionnaire was filled face-to-face by one of the investigators. In patients admitted with complaints of hoarseness, lasting longer than 2 weeks, cough, lasting longer than 3 weeks, and globus sensation, the physicians considered LPR as the preliminary diagnosis with rates of 88.4, 82.2, and 62.8 %, respectively. 87.0 % of physicians, participating in the study, started treatment for reflux empirically in patients having complaints of hoarseness, chronic cough, and globus sensation; however, only 29.0 % of physicians prescribed this treatment for periods of 3 or 6 months. 69.9 % of physicians, participating in the study, made a diagnosis of reflux in general during their daily practices; only 6.9 % made the discrimination between LPR and GERD. Of all physicians, 27.9 % prescribed double-dose PPI or H2.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the specialists; Adil Coskun, Emel Ceylan, Guzel Discigil, Cisen Eryigit, Sule Tas Gulen, Funda Goksoy, Can Ozbay, Mustafa Sahin and Yavuz Tokgoz who contributed to the first round.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed on human participants were by the ethical standards of the Institutional Research Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Eryilmaz, A., Basal, Y., Gunel, C. et al. Awareness and daily practices of family physicians and trainees towards laryngopharyngeal reflux. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 273, 4377–4384 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4180-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4180-5