Patients with Cerebral Stroke Have an Increased Risk of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Medical complications following stroke often result in significant morbidity. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence and risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) between patients with stroke and those without stroke in Taiwan.

This retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study included 18,412 patients newly diagnosed as having stroke during 2000-2006 and 18,412 patients without stroke frequency-matched by sex, age, and index year. All patients were followed from the index date to December 31, 2011. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the GERD risk. The GERD risk was approximately 1.51-times higher in the stroke group than in the nonstroke group, after adjustment for age, sex, and the cumulative incidence of some comorbidities. GERD was positively associated with stroke; the male sex (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.31); an age of 65 years or older (adjusted HR = 1.11); hyperlipidemia (adjusted HR = 1.14); ischemic heart disease (adjusted HR = 1.27); renal disease (adjusted HR = 1.45); and use of aspirin (adjusted HR = 2.34), clopidogrel (adjusted HR = 1.41), and dipyridamole (adjusted HR = 1.30).

This study indicates a significantly higher GERD risk in patients with stroke than in the nonstroke group. In clinical practice, neurologists should focus on the risk of GERD symptoms.