Different cutoffs of the reflux finding score for diagnosing laryngopharyngeal reflux disease should be used for different genders.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the differences in Reflux Finding Score (RFS) between the genders and determine the suitable RFS threshold for diagnosing laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) in each gender.

METHODS

Asymptomatic volunteers and patients with LPRD, confirmed with an oropharyngeal Dx-pH monitoring system, were included. All study subjects underwent transnasal flexible fiber-optic video laryngoscopy. Reliability was assessed with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman plots. The RFS cutoffs for determining the presence and absence of LPRD between the two genders were examined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTS

One hundred seven asymptomatic volunteers and fifty-five LPRD patients were recruited. The mean RFS for LPRD subjects (9.4 ± 3.2) was significantly higher than that for control subjects (7.1 ± 2.6; p < 0.001). The mean RFS for asymptomatic females (6.1 ± 2.7) was significantly lower than that for males (7.7 ± 2.5; p < 0.001). The mean RFS for female subjects with LPRD (7.8 ± 2.6) was lower than that for males (11.0 ± 2.8; p < 0.001). According to ROC analysis, the best cutoffs were 9.0 for males and 6.0 for females.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a significant difference in the RFS cutoff between the genders. For male subjects, we recommend a cutoff of 9.0 for diagnosing LPRD, and for female subjects, we recommend a cutoff of 6.0.