Comparing the diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux between the reflux symptom index, clinical consultation and reflux finding score in a group of patients presenting to an ENT clinic with an interest in voice disorders A pilot study in thirty-five patie
Watson, N.A.; Kwame, I.; Oakeshott, P.; Reid, F.; Rubin, J.S.
Clinical Otolaryngology
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 1749-4478 DOI: 10.1111/coa.12113
Accession: 036821361
The diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) was reported most commonly during clinical consultation, followed by the patient questionnaire (reflux symptom index, RSI) and least commonly using the appearance of the larynx in isolation (reflux finding score, RFS).The clinical consultation and patient symptoms (RSI) were the most closely related, showing a fair agreement.The RFS in isolation did not correlate with the RSI patient questionnaire or the diagnosis at clinical consultation.None of the reported signs we proposed as potential associates with LPR (piriform pooling, pharyngeal redness and tongue-base swelling) statistically related to the RFS diagnosis of LPR.Caution must be taken when using the RSI and RFS in diagnosing LPR independently.