Haini Liu,1 Ajuan Zhang,2 Hongyan Liu1 

1Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Intensive Care Unit, Qingdao Hiser Hospital Affiliated of Qingdao University (Qingdao Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital), Qingdao, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Hongyan Liu, Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8615969703816, Email 1359475758@qq.com

Introduction: Throat soreness is a frequently encountered yet often underappreciated complication in patients undergoing gastroscopy. Few studies have explicitly explored the relationship between gastroscopy and throat soreness. This study aimed to review demographic data, summarize the characteristics, and investigate the influencing factors of throat soreness following gastroscopy.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included inpatients who underwent painless gastroscopy at The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University between December 2023 and January 2024. The analysis focused on patient demographics, duration of fasting before gastroscopy, the procedure’s duration, the occurrence of vomiting post-gastroscopy, sore severity, and recovery time.
Results: A total of 254 patients underwent painless gastroscopy during the study period, and 123 patients experienced postoperative throat soreness (71 males, 52 females) with an average age of 57.2 years. When comparing the throat soreness and non-soreness groups, significant differences were noted in the duration of gastroscopy and fasting time before the examination. No statistically significant differences were observed in age, BMI, comorbidities, history of smoking, alcohol consumption, previous gastroesophageal surgery, reflux esophagitis, or post- procedure vomiting. Logistic regression analysis identified the duration of gastroscopy as a predictor of throat soreness post-procedure. Most of the patients reported resolution of throat soreness within 3 days.
Discussion: The findings of this study confirm that throat soreness is a common issue (the incidence was 48.4%) following gastroscopy, particularly associated with longer duration of gastroscopy. Fortunately, all instances of throat soreness resolved within a few days without the need for significant medical intervention.

Keywords: throat soreness, painless gastroscopy, duration of gastroscopy, soreness resolution