International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery | September-October 2019 | Vol 5 | Issue 5 Page 1 International Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery Manoj KL et al. Int J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 Sep;5(5):xxx-xxx http://www.ijorl.com pISSN 2454-5929 | eISSN 2454-5937 Original Research Article Prevalence of laryngopharyngeal reflux in adult population using 24 hours ambulatory dual probe pH monitoring Manoj Kumar L., Anand K. H.*, Raadhika Shree N. INTRODUCTION The reflux of gastric contents is a major concern involving the pathology of upper aerodigestive tract. Small amount of the refluxate reach the upper aero- digestive tract while upright during daytime causing damage to the local tissue producing localized symptoms. 1 According to El Serag, the prevalence of reflux disease has increased by 4% every year since 1976. 2 Reflux is known to have been associated subglottic stenosis, laryngospasm, bronchiectasis, obstructive sleep apnoea and even rhinitis or chronic sinusitis. 3 We conducted this study as laryngpharyngeal reflux is growing problem in adult population due to lifestyle changes. METHODS It is a prospective study conducted in the department of otorhinolaryngology at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital from April 2017 to April 2018. Adult patients above 18 years of age were included in to the study. Patients below 18 years of age, critically ill patients and those taking anti reflux medications for the past 1month were excluded from the study. Patients included in to the study were now evaluated using reflux symptom index to assess laryngopharyngeal reflux in the same. Reflux symptom index if greater than 13 was suggestive of laryngopharyngeal reflux according to Belafsky et al and those patients were counselled to do ambulatory 24 hours dual probe pH monitoring. 4 Informed consent was obtained. Patient was prepped with 4% xylocaine intranasally, dual probes 10 cms apart was used. The ABSTRACT Background: Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease is an under diagnosed condition due to unavailability of the diagnostic tool that is dual probe pH monitoring and is on the rise in adult population according to El Serag by 4% every year since 1976. Methods: Adult patients coming to the outpatient department between April 2017 to April 2018 were evaluated using reflux symptom index score (RSI). Score greater than 13 were suggestive of laryngopharyngeal reflux and patients underwent 24 hours ambulatory dual probe pH monitoring. 7 or more reflux events in study period were diagnostic of laryngopharygeal reflux. Results: 3000 adult patients were screened for RSI and 1756 (58.3%) had scored greater than 13. Among these patients 893 patients had 7 or more reflux events in pH monitoring. We found a prevalence of 29.76% in our study population. Conclusions: Prevalence laryngopharyngeal reflux disease needs to be assessed periodically at regular intervals to create more awareness of the disease and patient education thus preventing from causing chronic illnesses. Keywords: Laryngopharyngeal reflux, pH monitoring, Dual probe, Alkaline reflux, Reflux symptom index Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Saveetha Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 15 July 2019 Accepted: 30 July 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Anand K. H., E-mail: dr.manojkumar247@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20193606