Aim: To assess the gastrointestinal quality of life (GIQOL) before and after anti-reflux surgery (ARS) in GERD patients.
Methods: All patients undergoing primary or re-operative ARS by a single surgeon at Creighton University who had filled a pre-operative GIQOL questionnaire were included in the study. Retrospective review of prospectively collected data was done including the use of psychiatric medication. Patients were contacted and requested to complete the same GIQOL form after recovery from surgery.
Results: Fifty four patients had completed a pre-operative GIQOL questionnaire. Of those, 32 (59 %) patients completed the post-operative questionnaire. Seven patients (22 %) had psychological disorder in the form of depression. Eight patients (25%) had a re-do ARS after a failed previous operation. The mean age of the patients was 53.2 (range 28-81) and 19 (59%) were females. The mean preoperative GIQOL questionnaire score for all patients was 84.1 (SD ± 19.5) compared to 99.25 (SD ± 20.234) post-operatively (p<0.001). In the 7 patients with depression, the pre-operative GIQOL score was 64.4 (SD ± 17.3) compared to 88.6 (SD± 23.7) post-operatively (p=0.02). In the non psychiatric disorder group, the GIQOL score was 89.6 (SD± 18.6) pre-operatively and 102.2 (SD ± 18.6) post-operatively (p<0.001). In patients who underwent primary ARS, the pre-operative GIQOL score was 89.1 (SD ± 15.2) while the post-operative score was 104.4 (SD ± 18.3) (p<0.001). The GIQOL score in patients who underwent re-do ARS was 69.1 (SD ± 24.1) pre-operatively, compared to 83.6 (SD ± 18.5) (P=0.06)
Conclusions: There was significant improvement in the quality of life in patients undertaking ARS based on the GIQOL questionnaire assessment. This improvement was also reported in patients with psychological disorders. The improvement in patients who had re-do ARS was not significant.
pre and post-operative GIQOL questionnaire scores

Patient Groups	Number of Paitents	Pre-operative GIQOL scores Mean SD		Post-operative GIQOL socres Mean SD
All patients	32	84.1	19.5	99.2	18.6
Non Psychiatric patients	25	89.6	18.6	102.2	18.6
Psychiatric patients	7	64.4	17.3	88.6	23.7
Primary ARS patients	24	89.1	15.2	104.4	18.3
Re-do ARS patients	8	69.1	24.1	83.6	18.5