Rheumatologic disorders in patients undergoing esophageal manometry: prevalence, symptom characteristics, and manometric findings

Rheumatologic disorders (RDs) can have gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients often have upper GI symptoms from absent esophageal contractility (AC). Upper GI symptom characteristics and high-resolution esophageal manometry with impedance (HREMI) findings of other RDs have not been well studied. We aimed to: (i) determine the prevalence of RD in patients undergoing HREMI and (ii) assess the symptom characteristics and manometric findings of these patients. Patients undergoing HREMI (July 2018 to March 2020) rated their GI symptoms' severity. Healthy volunteers (HVs) also underwent HREMI. Of the 1,003 patients, 90 (9%) had RD (mean age: 55.3 +/- 1.4 years, 73.3% females), most commonly SSc (n=27), rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n=20), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n=11). The most severe upper GI symptoms in patients with RD were heartburn, regurgitation, nausea, and dysphagia, with no significant differences in their severities between SSc, RA, and SLE. RD patients had higher upper esophageal sphincter (UES) pressures, lower distal contractile integral (DCI), lower bolus clearance, and more frequent hiatal hernia (HH) on HREMI (all P<0.05) than HVs. Over half (61.1%) of patients with RD had esophageal motility disorders, most commonly AC (n=25), ineffective esophageal motility (IEM; n=18), and esophagogastric junction (EGJ) obstructive disorders (n=11). Among patients undergoing HREMI, 9% had RD. Upper GI symptom severities did not distinguish different RDs. Patients with RD had higher UES pressures, weaker DCI, lower bolus clearance, and more frequent HH than HVs. Although AC and IEM were most common motility disorders, a considerable minority (12.2%) of our RD patients had EGJ obstructive disorders.

Automated summary

Among patients undergoing HREMI, 9% had RD, with the most common being SSc, RA, and SLE. Patients with RD exhibited upper GI symptoms such as heartburn, regurgitation, nausea, and dysphagia. They also showed higher upper esophageal sphincter pressures, weaker distal contractile integral, lower bolus clearance, and more frequent hiatal hernia in HREMI findings.