Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPR) are two common diseases that lower patients' quality of life. OSA is defined by cyclic events of airflow obstruction that occur during sleep, while LPR is characterized by upper airway inflammatory signs and symptoms due to the return of gastroduodenal gaseous and liquid elements. pH-metry is the gold standard in LPR diagnosis, but considering its invasiveness among other negative traits, questionnaires that catalog symptoms and signs of the disease such as Reflux Symptoms Index (RSI) and Reflux Finding Score (RFS) are preferred. Moreover, LPR can be evaluated by testing the presence of pepsin in tears, and Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) has been introduced for the early diagnosis of larynx oncological disease. This paper aims to test whether LPR is more frequent in OSA patients than in control ones, performing a non-invasive protocol composed of RSI, RFS test (with light vs. NBI techniques), followed by pepsin detection in tears. 68 LPR patients were enrolled in the study (45 with OSA and 23 without OSA). A strong linear relationship between Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) and Oxygen Desaturation Index (ODI) was found, and patients who presented pepsin in tears had higher values of AHI and ODI in comparison to patients without it. Pathological RFS and NBI showed higher values of AHI and ODI in comparison to the control group. Furthermore, pathological RSI showed higher values of AHI and ODI in comparison to the control group. In conclusion, this diagnostic combined non-invasive protocol may be a good method to perform an early diagnosis of LPR.

中文翻译：

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阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停患者与喉咽反流病：泪液中 NBI 和胃蛋白酶检测的非侵入性评估。

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）和喉咽反流病（LPR）是降低患者生活质量的两种常见疾病。OSA 的定义是睡眠期间发生的周期性气流阻塞事件，而 LPR 的特征是由于胃十二指肠气态和液态元素的返回导致的上气道炎症体征和症状。pH 测定法是 LPR 诊断的金标准，但考虑到其在其他负面特征中的侵袭性，最好使用对疾病症状和体征进行分类的问卷，例如反流症状指数 (RSI) 和反流发现评分 (RFS)。此外，LPR 可以通过检测泪液中胃蛋白酶的存在来评估，并且已经引入窄带成像 (NBI) 来早期诊断喉肿瘤疾病。本文旨在测试 LPR 在 OSA 患者中是否比对照组更频繁，执行由 RSI、RFS 测试（使用光与 NBI 技术）组成的非侵入性方案，然后在泪液中检测胃蛋白酶。68 名 LPR 患者参加了研究（45 名患有 OSA，23 名没有 OSA）。发现呼吸暂停-低通气指数 (AHI) 和氧饱和度指数 (ODI) 之间存在强线性关系，并且与没有胃蛋白酶的患者相比，泪液中存在胃蛋白酶的患者的 AHI 和 ODI 值更高。与对照组相比，病理 RFS 和 NBI 显示出更高的 AHI 和 ODI 值。此外，与对照组相比，病理 RSI 显示出更高的 AHI 和 ODI 值。总之，这种诊断组合的非侵入性方案可能是进行 LPR 早期诊断的好方法。