The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical analysis of endoscopy negative
gastroesophageal reflux disease (EN-
GERD) in the elderly. 35 elderly patients of both sexes, 60 years or older with EN-
GERD, 33 elderly patients with
reflux esophagitis and 41 elderly patients as control group were included in this study. All patients witnessed verbal informed consent to participate in the study. EN-
GERD was defined as the patients with normal endoscopy despite of
heartburn as their chief complaint and who were completely relieved with
heartburn after one-week
omeprazole treatment. Helicobacter pylori
infection between EN-
GERD,
reflux esophagitis and control were 37.1%, 24.2% and 56.1%, respectively. The gastric mucosal
atrophy under endoscopic findings and the serum
pepsinogen I, II ratio in EN-
GERD had no significant differences with control. A
hiatus hernia with EN-
GERD was diagnosed 37.1%, which was lower significantly than 87.9% with
reflux esophagitis. The motility of the stomach using the
acetaminophen method was the same in patients with EN-
GERD,
reflux esophagitis and control. The anxiety score of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was significantly higher in the patients with EN-
GERD than in those with
reflux esophagitis and control. On the other hand, the severity of reflux symptoms in the patients with EN-
GERD was similar as those with
reflux esophagitis. We concluded that general anxiety plays an important role in the severity of the reflux symptoms in the patients with EN-
GERD. As such symptoms in EN-
GERD significantly impair the quality of life, further studies of patients with EN-
GERD are greatly needed.