Prevalence of Sleep Impairment among Adults with GERD: 885

Purpose: To identify and characterize possible sleep impairment among patients with GERD. Methods: A general population of US adults participated in a web-based survey including the GERD Symptom & Medication Questionnaire, a validated GERD screening tool to determine GERD status. Nighttime GERD (NTG) cases were defined as: (a) symptoms ≥2 nights/week with or without daytime symptoms, or (b) individuals without daytime symptoms but at least one night/week with symptoms. Daytime GERD (DTG) cases were GERD cases not satisfying NTG criteria. Respondents not meeting the above criterion served as controls. Sleep impairment was compared for GERD cases versus controls and for NTG versus DTG during the previous 3 months using the chi-square test for trend. Results: 2,805 of 18,213 invited to participate responded. 2,603 satisfied the study criteria (mean age = 46 years, 55% women); 701 were GERD cases. Among symptomatic GERD cases (N = 668); 303 met NTG criteria and 365 met DTG criteria. GERD cases had a higher prevalence of sleep impairment than controls (41.9% vs 19.4%; P < 0.0001) (Table 1). NTG cases reported significantly more sleep impairment than DTG cases (49.5% vs 36.7%; P= 0.0003)(Table 2). Conclusion: GERD in general, and especially NTG symptoms, is associated with significant sleep disruption. Awareness of nighttime reflux and associated sleep complaints should allow more complete evaluation and treatment of GERD patients.Table: Distribution of sleep impairment by GERD vs ControlsTable: Distribution of sleep impairment by NTG vs DTG