Objective To investigate the characteristics of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GER) complicated with refractory cough by high-resolution manometry (HRM). Methods GER patients who underwent high-resolution manometry from January 2016 to March 2018 at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected, and they were divided into GER with refractory cough group and GER group. Upper esophageal sphincter pressure (UESP), lower esophageal sphincter pressure (LESP), distal contractile integral (DCI), distal latency (DL) and 4s integrated relaxation pressure (4sIRP) were detected by HRM. The differences in esophageal motility between the two groups were analyzed. Results A total of 71 patients were enrolled, 22 patients were in the GER with refractory cough group and 49 patients were in the GER group. There were no significant differences in gender, age, body mass index,smoking history and drinking history between the two groups (P?>?0.05). Compared with the GER group, the proportion of patients with ineffective esophageal motility (IEM) in the GER with refractory cough group was higher (P??0.05). Conclusions Patients with GER complicated with refractory cough have a high proportion of IEM, and DCI is lower than that of simple GER patients. HRM can objectively evaluate esophageal motility and provide guidance for clinical diagnosis and treatment.