Sensitivity, Specificity, and Predictive Values of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Symptoms and Signs in Clinical Practice.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), and positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of symptoms and signs of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR).

STUDY

DESIGN

Prospective controlled.

SETTING

University medical center.

METHODS

Patients presenting with LPR symptoms and signs were consecutively included after diagnosis confirmation through 24-hour hypopharyngeal-esophageal multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring. Healthy individuals were recruited to compose a control group. Symptoms and signs were evaluated with the reflux symptom score and reflux sign assessment. The SE, SP, PPV, and NPV of symptoms and signs were assessed.

RESULTS

The study included 403 patients with LPR and 144 healthy individuals. Throat clearing, globus sensation, heartburn, and excess throat mucus were symptoms with the highest SE (67.5%-69.7%), SP (12.5%-20.8%), and NPV (48.3%-49.2%). The combination of throat clearing, heartburn, globus sensation, and excess throat mucus led to a high SE (96.0%) and NPV (85.2%). Anterior pillar erythema, tongue tonsil hypertrophy, and posterior commissure hypertrophy resulted in the highest SE (75.5%-83.5%). The highest SP was found for uvula erythema/edema, epiglottis erythema, and interarytenoid granulatory tissue (97.1%-97.2%). The association of nonendoscopic signs (anterior pillar erythema, uvula erythema/edema, and coated tongue) had an SE and SP of 80.1% and 47.2%, respectively. The association of throat clearing, heartburn, globus, anterior pillar erythema, and uvula erythema/edema had the highest SE (98.8%), SP (33.3%), PPV (94.3%), and NPV (70.6%).

CONCLUSION

LPR symptoms and signs reported low SP and NPV. The SE, SP, PPV, and NPV may be maximized with the association of throat clearing, heartburn, globus sensation, anterior pillar erythema, and uvula erythema/edema.