Behavior Intervention Therapy in Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Background:Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is commonly seen in clinical practice,but in a portion of these patients drug therapy is not very effective,and unhealthy lifestyle,eating habit may affect the development of GERD.Currently,there are few reports concerning drug therapy in combination with behavior intervention in patients with GERD.Aims:To assess the clinical efficacy of behavior intervention as an adjunctive therapy for gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in patients with GERD.Methods:One hundred and twenty GERD patients were randomly divided into two groups.The study group was treated with esomeprazole 20 mg bid plus behavior intervention for 8 weeks,while the control group received esomeprazole only during the same period.Symptoms as heartburn,acid regurgitation and chest pain during the treatment course were recorded and graded for the assessment of clinical efficacy. Results:Fifty-nine patients in study group and 58 in control group completed the therapeutic regimen.After 8-week treatment,the marked effective rate and overall effective rate of study group were 76.3% and 91.5%,respectively,both were significantly higher than those of the control group (58.6% and 77.6%,respectively,P0.05).Conclusions: Esomeprazole combined with behavior intervention is markedly effective for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in patients with GERD.