A Cross-Sectional Study on Gastric Diseases and FGIDs in Bangladesh: Insights Into Causes, Symptoms, and Medications

Acute gastritis affects roughly 8 out of every 1000 people, while chronic gastritis affects about 2 out of every 10,000 people worldwide. When something destroys or affects the mucosa lining the stomach, which protects it from the powerful stomach acid that breaks down food, the mucosa becomes inflamed, causing gastritis. A questionnaire-based survey was designed to assess the epidemiology of gastritis based on the patient's symptomatology and potential causes of these symptoms, severity, current epidemiology, treatment, and assessment of the health-related quality of life with response to treatment and medication awareness of gastritis-related diseases in Bangladesh.

A self-reported, cross-sectional study of 1051 gastric patients (57% male and 43% female) was conducted in Bangladesh using a simple random selection method with descriptive demographic and clinical characteristic statistics. Based on the availability of high-quality data, we worked on several governmental and nongovernmental hospitals and clinics in eight randomly selected districts around the country.

With an 87.58% response rate (603 men and 448 females), 81% of participants were actual gastric patients, and the remaining 19% took gastric medicines with other medications for various diseases. Patients between the ages of 31 and 60 were the most likely to suffer from gastritis, where males are significantly more represented than females. A sedentary lifestyle (45%, n = 478) and obesity (28%, n = 294) are the most common causes, while regurgitation (64%, n = 677) and stomach bloating (58%, n = 609) are the most common symptoms. Surprisingly, 51% of patients were taking self-medication, mostly (79.1%, n = 831) proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a class of medications that come in solid dosage forms (capsule 63% and tablet 33%).

This survey revealed the prevalence of gastritis and functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in Bangladesh for the first time. The insight of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the current causes, epidemiology, diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment of gastritis in Bangladesh.