scholarly journals Effects of Life style factors on the symptoms of gastro esophageal reflux disease: A cross sectional study in a Pakistani population

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahid Ahmed ◽  
Sajjad Jamil ◽  
Hafeezullah Shaikh ◽  
Maryam Abbasi

Background & Objective: Gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) broadly includes the whole spectrum of reflux disease symptoms like heartburn or acid regurgitation to endoscopic, reflux esophagitis or Barrett’s esophagus. Our aim therefore was to study the association between Gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms and various lifestyle factors. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in the outpatient department of Darul Sehat Hospital, Zubaida Medical Center and Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan from January 2018 to October 2018. The selected candidates were asked to fill a validated GERD questionnaire and they were also asked about their lifestyle factors. Odds ratio and their 95% confidence interval were estimated using binary logistic regression with GERD symptoms as the study outcome. Results: A total of 2000 respondents completed the questionnaire. 69.3% gastroesophageal reflux disease cases were found in participants above 35 years of age while 56.9% subjects were male. The most common lifestyle factors associated with GERD were less exercise time (90.9%) (OR, 6.47; 95% CI, 4.91-8.53), 78.3% participants had habit of eating midnight snacks (OR, 5.08; 95% CI, 4.03-6.40), 87.3% participants reported less interval between dinner and sleep (OR, 6.98; 95% CI, 5.36-9.08). The most important factor relieving GERD symptoms was raising the head of bed during sleep (79.4%) while 43.3% subjects with the habit of post dinner walk reported fewer symptoms of GERD. Conclusion: Lifestyle factors particularly less physical activity, late evening meals, inadequate sleep, smoking and post dinner lying were found to be associated with GERD symptoms. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.1371 How to cite this:Ahmed S, Jamil S, Shaikh H, Abbasi M. Effects of Life style factors on the symptoms of gastro esophageal reflux disease: A cross sectional study in a Pakistani population. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(2):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.1371 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Mary-Joe Youssef ◽  
Antoine Aoun ◽  
Aline Issa ◽  
Lana El-Osta ◽  
Nada El-Osta ◽  
...  

Background: The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is increasing worldwide and the related chronic symptoms can be associated with morbidity and poor quality of life. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify foods and beverages consumed by the Lebanese population, dietary habits, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors, health parameters and perceived stress, implicated in increasing GERD symptoms. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was carried among Lebanese adults in 2016. A convenient sample of 264 participants was equally divided into a GERD group and a control group. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, health status and dietary habits including Lebanese traditional dishes were collected. The perceived stress scale (PSS) was also used to assess the participants’ perception of stress. Logistic regression analyses were conducted with GERD symptoms (presence or absence) being the dependent variable. Results: The GERD symptoms were significantly associated with age (-p-value=0.017), family history of GERD symptoms (-p-value<0.001), smoking (-p-value=0.003) and chronic medical conditions (-p-value<.001). Regarding the dietary factors, participants who ate three meals or less/day, between meals and outside homes were 2.5, 2.9 and 2.4 times at a higher risk of experiencing GERD symptoms than others, respectively. Moreover, the logistic regression model showed that the GERD symptoms were significantly associated with the consumption of coffee (-p-value=0.037), Lebanese sweets (-p-value=0.027), fried foods (-p-value=0.031), ‘Labneh’ with garlic (-p-value<0.001), pomegranate molasses (-p-value=0.011), and tomatoes (-p-value=0.007). Conclusion: Some specific lifestyle factors and components of the Lebanese Mediterranean diet could be associated with GERD symptoms.


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