Clinical characteristics, endoscopic image of gastroesophageal reflux disease in the elderly

his study aimed to examine the clinical features and endoscope imagery of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in the elderly. We conducted a cross - sectional study of 96 elderly patients from Bach Mai hospital’s gastroscopy unit. 58.3% of the patients were female. The mean age was 73.12 + 8.22, with a range from 60 - 92 years old. The majority of participants suffered from GERD for less than one year (50%). The most common clinical symptoms were burning (67.7%), epigastric pain (63.5%) and heartburn (63.5%). Other symptoms included persistent cough (30.2%) and dysphasia (25.0%). The most common risk factors for GERD were being overweight or obese (40.6%) and alcohol or beer consumption (21.9%). Most of the patients were found to have pharyngitis grade A (49.9%) or pharyngitis grade B (34.4%). Patients commonly had accompanying gastritis symptoms. Additionally, the proportion of patients with Barrett’s esophagus was high at 30.3%. In conclusion, popular signs of GERD in this elderly patient population included burning, epigastric pain and heartburn. Given the high percentage of patients found to have Barrett's esophagus, there may be a need for continued monitoring of these patients with endoscopy to prevent future complications.