title: Health-related quality of life in primary care patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the clinical characteristics and health-related quality of life of family medicine patients with clinically diagnosed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved the baseline assessment of 268 patients enrolled in a randomized clinical trial comparing treatments for GERD. The study was conducted in a five-center, university-based family practice in southeastern West Virginia. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of GERD and who had not received treatment in the past 30 days were eligible; pregnant and lactating women and patients with severe renal or hepatic insufficiency were excluded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred sixty-eight patients were included in the analysis. Mean +/- SD age was 44.9 +/- 14.1 years; 61.2% were women and 91.4% were white. Mean +/- SD body mass index was 30.3 +/- 6 kg/m2, and >15.3% of patients had no insurance. One hundred seventy-four (64.9%) patients were enrolled from nonurban primary care clinics. One hundred sixty-four patients (61.2%) were prescribed at least one medication prior to study enrollment (mean +/- SD 2.88 +/- 1.71; range 1-9). When adjusted for age, gender, comorbidity status, and rural status, severity of GERD was associated with decreased health-related quality of life. GERD patients without comorbidity demonstrated decrements in health-related quality of life when compared with the US general population. When compared with another GERD population, the study patients reported fairly consistent GERD symptomatology and health-related quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GERD symptom severity was associated with impaired health-related quality of life in a predominantly rural primary care population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Robert C Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University-Charleston Division, 25304, USA. bkaplan@wvu.edu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaplan-Machlis
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Spiegler
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Revicki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012423:Rural Health; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012890:Sleep; D012923:Social Class; D013223:Statistics as Topic