Korean J Gastroenterol.  1998 Dec;32(6):701-708.

The Prevalence and Risk Factors of Reflux Esophagitisin Routine Check-up Subjects

• Jeon SG
• Rhee PL
• Shin MH
• Hyun JG
• Lee HY
• Sohn CI
• Kim JJ
• Koh KC
• Paik SW
• Rhee JC
• Choi KW

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There were few epidemiological data on reflux esophagitis in Korea. The aim o this study was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of reflux esophagitis in Korea.
METHODS
We examined 8314 subjects (male 4,876, female 3,438, age: 18-83 year) visiting health promotion center for routine check-up including EGD. All of them were given a questionnaire about smoking alcohol consumption, exercise, diet habits, use of drugs and medical history. We estimated the prevalence of reflux esophagitis and performed a case-control study to evaluate the risk factors of reflux esophagitis. We recruited 200 cases with reflux esophagitis and 400 controls without reflux esophagitis on EGD.
RESULTS
The prevalence of reflux esophagitis was 3.73% in male and 0.81% in female. The age-adjusted prevalence was 3.19% in male and 1.66% in female. The prevalence in male was significantly higher than that in female (p<0.01). On the monovariate analysis, smoking and body mass index were significantly related with reflux esophagitis (p<0.05). On the multivariate analysis, smoking was a significant risk factor of reflux esophagitis (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of reflux esophagitis in subjects who had routine check-up was 3.73% in male and 0.81% in female. Smoking is suggested to be a significant risk factor of reflux esophagitis.

Keyword

Reflux esophagitis; Epidemiology; Gastroesophageal reflux disease

MeSH Terms

Alcohol Drinking
Body Mass Index
Case-Control Studies
Epidemiology
Esophagitis, Peptic
Female
Food Habits
Gastroesophageal Reflux
Health Promotion
Humans
Korea
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Prevalence*
Risk Factors*
Smoke
Smoking
Surveys and Questionnaires
Smoke