GERD Symptoms in the General Population: Prevalence and Severity Versus Care-Seeking Patients

Abstract

Background Prior estimates suggest that up to 40 % of the US general population (GP) report symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, symptoms in the GP versus patients seeking care for gastrointestinal (GI) complaints have not been compared. We estimated the prevalence and severity of GERD symptoms in the GP versus GI patients, and identified predictors of GERD severity. We hypothesized that similar to functional GI disorders, psychosocial factors would predict symptom severity in GERD as much, or perhaps more, than care-seeking behavior alone. Methods We compared the prevalence of heartburn and regurgitation between a sample from the US GP and patients seeking GI specialty care. We compared GERD severity between groups using the NIH PROMIS® GERD scale. We then performed multivariable regression to identify predictors of GERD severity. Results There was no difference in the prevalence of heartburn between the GP and patient groups (59 vs. 59 %), but regurgitation was more common in patients versus GP (46 vs. 39 %; p = 0.004). In multivariable regression, having high visceral anxiety (p < 0.001) and being divorced or separated (p = 0.006) were associated with higher GERD severity. Conclusions More than half of a GP sample reports heartburn—higher than previous series and no different from GI patients. Although regurgitation was more prevalent in patients versus the GP, there was no difference in GERD severity between groups after adjusting for other factors; care seeking in GERD appears related to factors beyond symptoms, including visceral anxiety.

Approach to Treatment of Patients With Sliding Hiatal Hernia With Underlying Reflux Esophagitis

“…Numerous studies of the mechanism of hiatal hernia (HH) revealed multifactorial character of the disease with undifferentiated connective tissue dysplasia (UCTD) being one of the leading factors [1,2,3,4].…”

“…In view o f high prevalence o f patients with sliding HH (sHH) and reflux esopha gitis (RE) [3] and o f a significant amount o f recurrences after both medicinal [5] and surgical treatm ent [2,6,7], physicians are often faced with the task of determination of the treatm ent policy taking into account the condition of connective tissue of an o r ganism, and of determination of indications for surgical treatm ent of patients.…”

“…Многочисленные исследования меха низма образования грыж пищеводного от верстия диафрагмы (ГПОД) позволили вы явить многофакторность заболевания, при чем одну из ведущих ролей играет концеп ция недифференцированной дисплазии со единительной ткани (нДСТ) [1][2][3][4].…”

“…Учитывая широкую распространен ность больных со скользящими ГПОД (сГПОД) и рефлюкс-эзофагитом (РЭ) [3], значительное количество рецидивов как при медикаментозном [5], так и при хи рургическом лечении [2,6,7], врачам приходится часто решать проблему опре деления лечебной тактики с учетом со стояния соединительной ткани организма и определение показаний к хирургиче скому лечению больных.…”

Evaluation of the Frequency of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Hemodialysis Patients

“…Hastaların gastrointestinal sistem şikayet-leri, özgeçmiş özellikleri ve kullandıkları ilaçlar yüz yüze görüşme yöntemi ile elde edilmiştir. Anket form, bireylerin bazı sosyodemografik özelliklerini (yaş, cinsiyet, eğitim durumu, medeni durumu), gastroözefageal reflü hastalığı ile ilişkili olduğu düşünülen bazı faktörler (sigara alışkanlığı, ek hastalık varlığı, mide asidini azaltan ilaç kullanma durumu, nonsteroidal antienflamatuar ilaç kullanma durumu) ile ilgili soruları içermektedir.Çalışmada gastroözofageal reflü hastalığının değerlendiril-mesinde National İnstitutes of Health (NIH) PROMİS GERD Ölçeği kullanılmıştır [6,7] . Bu ölçek, 2014 yılında NIH tarafın-dan geliştirilmiş olup, Türkiye'de geçerlilik ve güvenilirlik çalışması 2016 yılında Özşeker ve arkadaşları tarafından yapılmıştır.…”