Gastroesophageal reflux: the features in elderly patients

Table 1 Endoscopic findings in elderly and younger patients

	Non-esophagitis (%)	Esophagitis		Hiatal hernia (%)
		I/II (%)	III/IV (%)
Elderly patients	44 (66.7)	8 (12.1)b	14 (21.2)b	16 (24.2)b
Younger patients	78 (69.6)	29 (25.8)	4 (3.6)	17 (15.1)

^bP < 0.001, elderly patients vs younger patients.

Table 2 Percentages of physiological reflux (PhR), pathological reflux and reflux esophagitis (RE) in elderly and younger patients

	PhR (%)	PR (%)	RE (%)
Elderly patients	24 (36.4)a	20 (30.3)a	22 (33.3)a
Younger patients	59 (52.7)	19 (17.0)	34 (30.3)

^aP < 0.05, elderly patients vs younger patients; PhR = physiological reflux; PR = pathological reflux; RE = reflux esophagitis.

Table 3 Frequency of GER episodes in elderly and younger patients (x^-± s)

	Elderly	Younger	patients	patients
Upright position
PhR	1 0	10a	24	20a
P R	4 5	21b	5 5	21b
RE	8 5	64c	5 3	32c
Supine position
PhR	3	4	3	9
P R	1 7	9d	8	7d
RE	1 8	3e	7	7e

^aP < 0.01, elderly vs younger;

^cP < 0.05, elderly vs younger;

^dP < 0.01, elderly vs younger;

^eP < 0.05, elderly vs younger.

Table 4 Frequency of GER episodes lasting more than 5 min in eld erly and younger patients (x^-± s)

	Elderly	patients	Younger	patients
Upright position
P R	3	2	5	3
RE	9	6	5	6
Supine position
P R	3	2	5	3
RE	3	2	2	2

P > 0.05, elderly patients vs younger patients; PR = pathological reflux; RE = reflux esophagitis.