Gastroesophageal reflux disease: epidemiological data, symptomatology and risk factors

Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), present a typical symptomatology with heartburn and regurgitations in about 80%.

This study will assess the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease and some demographic features of the study group. It will also be assessed the sensitivity and specificity of GERD Questionnaire and the risk factors of the disease.

For the current study 426 patients were selected who were admitted to a tertiary gastroenterology-hepatology hospital in Athens, Greece, complaining about having the common symptoms of GERD (heartburn and regurgitations). The study period was January 2008-March 2011. Positive diagnosis has been based on personal history, clinical examination and by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Of 426 patients, 20 were excluded from the study. 150 (36.9%) were women and 256 (63.1%) men. The mean patient age was 48.77 years with SD 14.32 years. The age group with the highest frequency of GERD was the 40-59 years including 196 (48.3%) patients and also the group between 20-39 years including 111 (27.3%) patients. 60 (14.8%) patients were not diagnosed with GERD after following an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

The M:F ratio for patients with Barrett esophagus is 5:1. The sensitivity for the diagnosis of GERD using questions about the typical symptoms (regurgitation, heartburn) is about 72.6%. Although, the prevalence of GERD is higher in males than females, the prevalence of esophagitis and GEFV grade between sexes in not statistically significant. On the other hand, there is a strong statistical significance between sex and grade of HH presence (p < 0.05).