Prevalence, risk factors and socio-epidemiological study of gastroesophageal reflux disease: An Urban population based study in Indonesia

Background: Several factors contribute to the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Demographic, ethnic and behavioral had been found to be the most important factors for having GERD symptoms. Objective: To determine the prevalence of GERD among urban population in Depok, Indonesia and any association with predictive risk factors and socio-epidemiological status. Methodology: Design of this study was cross sectional. Participants were randomly selected using stratified random sampling method among healthy people living near 5 public health services in Depok, West Java, Indonesia. The participants were evaluated using GerdQ tool. This tool is a questionnaire included detailed socioepidemiological factors and history of GERD symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0. Results: From 278 subjects of urban population in Indonesia, 9.35% of them had GERD. Statistical analysis found significant association between education level (p = 0.005), economic level (p = 0.025), asthma status (p = 0.023) and delayed gastric emptying (p = 0.013) with GERD. Conclusion: The GERD prevalence of urban population in Indonesia was 9.35%. Significant factors associated with GERD were education level, economic level, asthma status and delayed gastric emptying. Future, studies with larger number of subjects are needed to analyze factors which related with GERD.