THE EFFECT OF TREATING REFLUX ESOPHAGITIS WITH OMEPRAZOLE ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE

Background/Aims Despite the commonplace nature of heartburn and reflux oesophagitis, little is known of their impact on patients' quality of life, The aim of this study was to assess quality of life in oesophag itis patients before and after medical therapy and compare the results with a sample of the general population. Methods Consecutive attender s with frequent heartburn and grade II-III oesophagitis on endoscopy w ere recruited from one of two centres and treated with omeprazole 20 m g ED for 8-14 weeks. A symptomatic questionnaire, including the Short Form-36 (SF-36) quality of life questionnaire, was completed before an d at the end of treatment, Actual quality of life scores were compared with 'expected' scores derived from a sample (n = 3015) of the Northe rn Ireland population. Results Seventy two (83%) of the 87 patients re cruited were healed after 14 weeks therapy and 77 completed the SF-36 before and after therapy, Three quality of life parameters (bodily pai n, vitality and social function) were significantly lower before treat ment than the 'expected' scores, Seven of the quality of life paramete rs measured by the SF-36 showed a significant improvement after treatm ent and the eighth (mental health) just failed to achieve a significan t improvement (P = 0.06). Comparison of the improvements in SF-36 scor es for those who were healed with scores for those who were not healed showed no significant difference. Conclusions Patients with grade II- III oesophagitis and frequent heartburn have lower quality of life sco res for some parameters than would be expected in the general populati on. Treatment of the oesophagitis with omeprazole 20 mg ED causes a si gnificant improvement not just in reflux symptoms but in several physi cal and mental aspects of quality of life regardless of whether or not the oesophagitis is healed, Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 10:459-464 (C ) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.