Reliability of self-assessment of quality of life in patients with hiatal hernia associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease after videolaparoscopic anti-reflux surgery

This article aims to investigate the reliability of self-assessment of the quality of life in patients with hiatal hernia after undergoing videolaparoscopic anti-reflux intervention. To achieve this, the responses to a questionnaire were compared with the results of a study on the failure of the cardia anti-reflux mechanism.Materials and methods. A total of 213 patients who underwent videolaparoscopic oesophagus fundoplication were included in this study. The participants completed three questionnaires: GORD-HRQL, GIQLI, and SF-36. The responses obtained from the questionnaires were then compared with the results of a cardia anti-reflux mechanism study, which involved X-ray endoscopy of the oesophagus and stomach, daily oesophageal pH-metry, and oesophagogastric junction manometry. Based on the responses to the three questionnaires, the quality of life index was calculated for all patients. Additionally, a composite index of cardia anti-reflux mechanism failure was computed to assess the severity of pathological gastro-oesophageal reflux and describe the effectiveness of the cardia anti-reflux mechanism in preventing it.Results. The comparison of the components forming the integral quality of life index with the composite index of cardia anti-reflux mechanism failure before and after the operation revealed an inverse relationship: as the values of the integral quality of life index decreased, the values of the composite index of cardia anti-reflux mechanism failure increased.Conclusion. The self-assessment of the quality of life by patients with GORD-associated hiatal hernia after anti-reflux intervention, as assessed through GORD-HRQL, GIQLI, and SF-36 questionnaires, is accurate and can be effectively utilized for screening and diagnosing disease recurrence.