查看文章

Objective: To determine the characteristics of patients presenting in primary care with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD), in terms of clinical features and endoscopic diagnosis.

Design: European multi-national, multi-centre, non-therapeutic study, in which detailed documentation of presenting symptoms was followed within seven days by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Setting: 52 primary care centres in United Kingdom, Germany and Ireland.

Subjects: 806 patients aged over 18 years presenting with symptoms which, in the opinion of the primary care physician, are suggestive of GORD.

Main outcome measures: Presenting reflux-symptom profile, reflux-symptom history, endoscopic findings.

Results: The majority of patients (66.7%) reported experiencing symptoms daily and almost half (49.4%) experienced symptoms both during the day and at night. Posture and stress/anxiety were reported by patients as …