Prevalence and risk factors of gastroesophageal reflux disease among population of Saudi Arabia: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES

To find how common gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is in Saudi Arabia and to identify the main risk factors linked to it.

METHODS

We followed PRISMA guidelines and registered the study on PROSPERO (CRD42025637142). A full literature search was done across PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar up to December 2024. Two reviewers independently reviewed the results. We assessed the risk of bias using the JBI critical appraisal tool and evaluated potential reporting bias through Egger's test. To determine the overall prevalence and key contributing risk factors, we conducted a meta-analysis utilizing a random-effects approach. We also did subgroup analyses based on gender and other variables. STATA version 17 was used for all analyses.

RESULTS

In total, we included 22 cross-sectional studies with 18,487 participants altogether. The combined prevalence of GERD in both genders was 33%. Males had a prevalence of 34%, and females were close at 33%. Common risk factors were observed such as smoking (44%), eating fast food (43%), spicy food (34%), NSAID use (31%), and drinking tea or coffee (32%). The substantial heterogeneity observed (I² >95%) could potentially be attributed to variations in methodological approaches or differences in the characteristics of the sampled populations. Therefore, a random-effect model was used for all analyses.

CONCLUSION

Gastroesophageal reflux disease appears to have a higher prevalence in Saudi Arabia relative to global figures. The findings underscore several prominent risk factors frequently observed within the region, indicating the importance of enhancing public awareness and implementing focused lifestyle interventions to help reduce and control the impact of GERD..