Loading...
To date, studies in which possible links between obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were evaluated have yielded conflicting results and were not adjusted for potential confounding risk. In this cross-sectional study, investigators conducted a survey using validated reflux questionnaires and food-frequency questionnaires in 1000 employees of a large medical center who were chosen randomly from 12 services to represent the ethnic and professional spectrum of employees. Upper endoscopy was offered to the 54% of survey respondents ; 196 participants underwent endoscopy.
Twenty-six percent of respondents reported weekly heartburn or regurgitation. A dose-response and linear relation between heartburn frequency and higher body-mass…