Alrayah Mujtaba, Alzahrani Rajab, Alghamdi Mohammed A, Alghamdi Kholoud M, Almutairi Faisal F, Alghamdi Anwar A, Alzahrani Raghad A, Bajaber Taif A, Alanazi Tahani F, Alnafisah Haya A
Unit of Otolaryngology, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, SAU.
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, SAU.
Cureus. 2023 Apr 24;15(4):e38043. doi: 10.7759/cureus.38043. eCollection 2023 Apr.
Background General practitioners (GPs) have a significant role in the diagnosis of patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). Some published data revealed a lack of knowledge among GPs about the disease, consequently, this lack of knowledge impacted their performance. This survey aims to assess the current knowledge and practice of general practitioners regarding laryngopharyngeal reflux in Saudi Arabia. Methodology This survey study was conducted to assess the current knowledge and practice of general practitioners regarding laryngopharyngeal reflux in Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed and collected from the five regions in Saudi Arabia, which are The Central Region (Riyadh, Qassim), Eastern Region (Dammam, Al-Kharj, Al-Ahasa), Western Region (Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah), Southern Region (Asir, Najran, Jizan), and Northern Region (Tabuk, Jouf, Hail). Results In the current study, we collected data from 387 general practitioners, 61.8% of whom were aged between 21-30 years old, and 57.4% of the participants were males. Moreover, 40.6% of the participants thought that both LPR and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) share pathophysiology, however, they are two different diseases considering their clinical presentation. Moreover, it was found that heartburn was the most known symptom of LPR among the participants (Mean score 2.14 (SD=1.31), where a lower score indicated more relation). Considering the treatment of LPR, 40.6% and 40.3% of the participants reported using proton pump inhibitors once or twice daily respectively. In contrast, antihistamine/H2 blockers, alginate, and magaldrate were used to a lesser extent as reported by 27.1%, 21.7%, and 12.1%. Conclusion The current study showed limited knowledge among general practitioners considering LPR with a higher rate of referring patients to other departments depending on symptoms which may increase the pressure on other departments of mild cases.
全科医生（GPs）在喉咽反流（LPR）患者的诊断中发挥着重要作用。一些已发表的数据显示，全科医生对该疾病缺乏了解，因此，这种知识的缺乏影响了他们的表现。本调查旨在评估沙特阿拉伯全科医生对喉咽反流的当前知识和实践情况。
本调查研究通过在线问卷来评估沙特阿拉伯全科医生对喉咽反流的当前知识和实践情况。问卷在沙特阿拉伯的五个地区分发和收集，这五个地区分别是中部地区（利雅得、卡西姆）、东部地区（达曼、哈吉尔、艾哈萨）、西部地区（麦加、麦地那、吉达）、南部地区（阿西尔、奈季兰、吉赞）和北部地区（塔布克、焦夫、海尔）。
在当前研究中，我们收集了387名全科医生的数据，其中61.8%的年龄在21 - 30岁之间，57.4%的参与者为男性。此外，40.6%的参与者认为喉咽反流和胃食管反流病（GERD）具有共同的病理生理学，但考虑到它们的临床表现，它们是两种不同的疾病。此外，发现烧心是参与者中最广为人知的喉咽反流症状（平均得分2.14（标准差 = 1.31），得分越低表明关联度越高）。考虑到喉咽反流的治疗，40.6%和40.3%的参与者分别报告每天使用一次或两次质子泵抑制剂。相比之下，据报告，抗组胺药/H2受体阻滞剂、藻酸盐和氢氧化铝镁的使用程度较低，分别为27.1%、21.7%和12.1%。
当前研究表明，全科医生对喉咽反流的知识有限，根据症状将患者转诊至其他科室的比例较高，这可能会增加轻症患者对其他科室的压力。
