The burden of disrupting gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: a database study in US and European cohorts.

BACKGROUND

Recent data indicate that among patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) there is a subgroup with a higher disrupting burden of illness in terms of symptom frequency and overall impact.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the burden of disrupting versus non-disrupting GORD on individuals, healthcare providers and society.

METHODS

Data were obtained from European (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) and US respondents in the 2007 National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS). Respondents with GORD were classified as having disrupting or non-disrupting GORD based on self-reported symptom frequency, presence of night-time symptoms and medication usage. Disrupting GORD was defined as the presence of GORD symptoms on at least 2 days/week in addition to either night-time symptoms or use of prescribed/over-the-counter medication at least twice a week during the past month.

RESULTS

Of 116 536 respondents included in the 2007 NHWS, 23% reported GORD symptoms; 39% of these were acknowledged as having disrupting GORD. These patients had higher healthcare resource utilization than those with non-disrupting disease. Respondents with disrupting GORD also had poorer health-related quality of life, greater impairments in health-related work productivity and absenteeism (all p < 0.05 vs non-disrupting GORD), and higher associated total medical costs. Overall, patients with physician-diagnosed GORD also had significantly lower health-related quality of life than self-diagnosed respondents (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

GORD is a common disease that places a substantial burden on affected individuals and society. A high proportion of patients have disrupting GORD, which has significant adverse potential from both a clinical and an economic perspective.