Symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD): Classification of Adult Subjects Suffering From Typical GERD Symptoms and Description of the Most Frequent Symptom Profiles and Characteristics - European Observational Study

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common disorders seen by primary care providers and gastroenterologists in the United States and Europe. GERD is more than just heartburn, which is only one of several complaints. Patients can also suffer from regurgitation, nausea, sore throat, cough, hiccups, chest pain, sleep disturbance, etc. Individuals with the typical GERD symptoms (heartburn and/or acid regurgitation) constitute a diverse group. The detailed characterization of the different symptoms and their associations, but also their link with clinical or epidemiologic factors (age, body mass index [BMI], history of GERD, comorbidities, etc.), would help the physician to better individualize patient profiles and to adapt GERD management, enabling a better therapeutic response. In many studies the relationship between obesity and GERD has been looked at. However, the results of these studies are sometimes contradictory. The connection between obesity and elevated risk of GERD symptoms has been reported, although study results were sometimes contradictory (that is some of the studies showed that patients who were overweight did develop GERD symptoms more often than patients who had a normal weight; other studies did not show such a relationship). The purpose of this study is to update the data concerning adult patients suffering from GERD in European countries, as well as to explore the association between BMI and GERD symptoms, by determining the relative risks in patients belonging to different categories of BMI.This observational study will enroll patients who present at least 1 typical symptom of GERD (e.g., heartburn and/or regurgitation (the return of gastric content from the stomach to the mouth or throat)) in the week before inclusion in this study. The aim is to collect information about the symptom characteristics during one visit. During this visit, general information (age, weight, height,BMI), information about the medical history (including smoking and drinking habits, and drug use), information about any other diseases and lifestyle habits and detailed information about GERD (such as when it was fist diagnosed, how long the symptoms are present and when they occur, how they are treated) will be collected. A physical examination will be performed, consisting of a weight and height measurement, calculation of the body mass index (BMI), and a measurement of the waist. During the visit, the next steps for the GERD therapy (including changes in life style habits) will be discussed and this information will also be collected.