Laryngopharyngeal Reflux in Medical Professionals

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether stage of medical training, specialty choice, or other work/training stressors contribute to the presence of laryngopharyngeal reflux in physicians, fellows, residents, and medical students.
Study Design: Cross-sectional survey
Setting: Urban academic medical center and its affiliated medical school
Methods: A 21-item survey was sent out via e-mail to all physicians and medical students. Questions within this survey assessed their level of training and lifestyle risk factors for laryngopharyngeal reflux. The Mini-Z physician burnout scale was also incorporated to assess workplace stressors and burnout. Additionally, participants completed the Reflux Symptoms Index within the survey and each participant was assigned a score that correlated with their probability of having reflux. Patients were considered to have laryngopharyngeal reflux if their Reflux Symptoms Index score ≥ 13 or were previously diagnosed with reflux.
Results: 106 participants completed the survey. Forty of these had laryngopharyngeal reflux. Training stage and training year were not significantly associated with reflux status. Specialty choice also had no significant association with reflux status. None of the ten parameters of the Mini-Z physician burnout scale were associated with laryngopharyngeal reflux.
Conclusion: This study did not find any significant association between level of training, specialty choice, or work- or training-related stressors and the probability of having laryngopharyngeal reflux. However, workplace and training-related stressors are well-documented in having a detrimental effect on physicians and trainees. Further studying this topic in a larger and more varied sample may be beneficial.