Gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms are more common in general practice in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
To accurately assess the prevalence of GERD symptoms in general practice.


METHODS
4139 consecutive patients (2025 men and 2114 women with a mean age of 43 years), who first attended the Outpatient Department of General Medicine and Emergency Care at Toho University Omori Hospital, were asked to respond to the F-scale questionnaire regardless of their chief complaints. The questionnaire is a self-report instrument, written in a simple and easy-to-understand language, containing 12 questions.


RESULTS
Of 4139 subjects, 1554 patients (37.6%) were identified as GERD according to their F-scale score (> 7). However, there were only 45 consultations (1.1%) for typical GERD symptoms. Although GERD symptoms are common in adults of all ages, the prevalence of GERD was highest in the 20-29 years age group and the age group 70-79 years had the lowest prevalence for both males and females.


CONCLUSIONS
Although there was a high rate indicating GERD in our primary care population, only 1.1% of outpatients attended our hospital with a chief complaint of GERD symptoms. Since about one-third of GERD patients are affected by atypical symptoms, general physicians need to be cautious about extrapolating these results to patients with a chief complaint other than typical GERD symptoms.
Watanabe
Toshiyasu
T
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University School of Medicine, Omori Hospital, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan.
Urita
Yoshihisa
Y
Sugimoto
Motonobu
M
Miki
Kazumasa
K
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence
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