Korean J Med.  2006 Jun;70(6):627-635.

Dietary related risk factors and quality of life in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease

• Yang SY
• Lee OY
• Kim HE
• Chang YK
• Yoon BC
• Choi HS
• Chung YG
• Cho CH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is increasing in Korea. The aim of this study is to evaluate the dietary habit which is commonly known as risk factor of GERD and the quality of life in GERD patients.
METHODS
This study enrolled 52 patients (ERD; erosive reflux disease 38, NERD; non-erosive reflux disease 14) as patient group. They were completed the questionnaires about dietary habit and quality of life. All datas were compared with 23 healthy volunteer group who visited same hospital for health screening.
RESULTS
Patient group had more dietary risk factors such as unbalanced diet, irregular diet, using lots of sauces, having snacks or meals within 3 hours of bedtime and suffering from epigastric discomfort after alcohol drinking (p<0.05). Patient group preferred to have spicy food, soft drink, coffee and tea, fried food, instant food and noodles (p<0.05). ERD group more frequently had snacks or meals just before sleep, suffered from discomfort after drinking, and preferred to have fried food (p<0.05). GERD patients reported significantly worse scores on 6 SF-36 scales, such as physical function, role limitations-physical, role limitations-emotional, mental health, social function, and general health perception.
CONCLUSIONS
We found that ERD patients had more snacks or meals within 3 hours of bedtime and fried food. Also, they were suffering from epigastric discomfort after alcohol drinking. Patients with GERD experienced decrements in health-related quality of life compared with the control subjects.

Keyword

Gastroesophageal reflux; Dietary habit; Risk factors; Quality of life

MeSH Terms

Alcohol Drinking
Carbonated Beverages
Coffee
Diet
Drinking
Food Habits
Gastroesophageal Reflux*
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Korea
Mass Screening
Meals
Mental Health
Prevalence
Quality of Life*
Risk Factors*
Snacks
Tea
Weights and Measures
Surveys and Questionnaires
Coffee
Tea