Influence of working in auto factory on gastroesophageal reflux disease

Present study aimed to evaluate association between job -related factors and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) among Iranian auto factory's workers.

Many of the gastrointestinal disorders may be caused as the result of stress-related occupations and biorhythm disruption.

We performed a cross-sectional study on 3590 Iranian Auto factory employees. GERD symptoms, demographic information, work shift, work section and history of some gastrointestinal disease were asked from all employees by physician. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for GERD symptoms according to the potential risk factors.

The prevalence of GERD was 25.57%, which was higher in rotatory shift (91.6%) than the fixed shift (8.4%) (P-value = 0.009). Smoking (OR: 1.31; 95% CI: (1.09, 1.57)), working in official section (P-value < 0.001), history of GERD (OR: 8.63; 95 % CI (6.53, 11.40)), history of peptic ulcer (OR: 2.96; 95 % CI (2.08, 4.20)), family history of gastrointestinal cancers (OR: 1.47; 95 % CI (1.19, 1.81)) were the factors associated with GERD symptoms.

The prevalence of GERD in the rotatory shift was more than the fixed shift. Smoking, family history of gastrointestinal cancers and peptic ulcer could be associated with GERD symptoms. Working in the special job with high activity, may probably lead to decrease in the risk of reflux.