Prevalence of gastro esophageal reflux disease among medical students in Chennai, South India

Introduction: The prevalence of gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been increasing worldwide. Earlier it was thought that GERD prevalence in Asian countries is lower compared to western countries. But recent studies have shown that it's on par with the west. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastro esophageal reflux disease among medical students and the risk factors associated with it. Materials and Method: The study was done as a cross sectional study using the Gastro esophageal Reflux Disease – Health Related Quality of Life (GERD-HRQL) questionnaire developed by Velanovich et al among Medical College students in Chennai during February to March 2017. Results: Out of the 263 medical students who participated in this study, 92 (35%) were male and 171 (65%) were female. 25 % of study population had a positive family history of GERD, while majority (63.9%) of study participant's skipped meals. A large majority of them preferred eating outside (82.9%) and liked eating spicy foods (81.4%). The prevalence of GERD in the study population was 14.4%. The association between GERD and family history, history of drug intake, skipping meals, alcohol consumption, and smoking was found to be statistically significant. (p<0.05) Conclusion: There is high prevalence of GERD in this population. There is a need for more population-based studies on GERD in India to provide insight into the various risk factors which increase the chance of developing gastro esophageal reflux disease.