Abstract
Background and study aims Patients often develop sore throat after upper endoscopy procedures but there data
are very limited on the magnitude of the problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate
and identify independent risk factors of sore throat in patients undergoing endoscopy.
Patients and methods Data were collected prospectively on consecutive outpatient endoscopy procedures performed
at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from October 2018 to February 2019. Procedure nurses
collected pre-procedure, intra-procedure, and immediate post-procedure surveys including
evaluation of sore throat (pain scale from 1 – 10). Significant univariate variables
(P < 0.05) were entered into a multivariate logistic regression model.
Results Data were collected on 715 patients. Four hundred seventy-two patients (mean age = 61
years, females = 53 %) were included in the analysis and 85 patients (18 %) experienced
post-procedure sore throat. On univariate analysis, female gender, oral endoscopic
ultrasound (EUS), oral double balloon enteroscopy (DBE), fellow involvement, throat
suctioning, general anesthesia, oral airway, and prolonged procedure (> 30 minutes)
were risk factors for sore throat (all P < 0.05). On the multivariate analysis, independent risk-factors for post-procedure
sore throat were oral DBE (odds ratio [OR] 5.2), oral airway (OR 4.8), general anesthesia
(OR 2.7), fellow involvement (OR 2.5), oral EUS (OR 2.4), and female gender (OR 2.0).
Conclusions Contrary to popular belief, our study found that post-procedural sore throat is more
common (18 %) than previously reported. Two types of endoscopic procedures, two anesthesia
maneuvers, female gender, and fellow involvement were all independent risk factors.
This is of particular concern for interventionalists who perform EUS and oral DBE
as these patients are at higher risk for sore throat.
