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Sleep Disturbance Due to GERD Significantly Affects Work and Leisure Productivity

By Bruce Sylvester

CHICAGO, IL -- May 18, 2005 -- Sleep disturbance caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) significantly affects work productivity and leisure activities, researchers reported here on May 16^th at Digestive Disease Week (DDW).

The results, from a large and multinational survey, were presented by lead investigator Harley Liker, MD, assistant professor of medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California.

Individuals with GERD were identified through an analysis based on results from a telephone survey of more than 200,000 households in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Individuals who agreed to become subjects in the study undertook a face-to-face, 100-item questionnaire about GERD symptoms, lifestyle, and drug use.

The subjects were designated as "diagnosed" (those with GERD, acid reflux, or heartburn diagnosed by a doctor, and treated with prescription medication) or "undiagnosed" (not seen by a doctor for GERD symptoms but reporting heartburn/acid reflux 2 or more times per week.)

A total of 1908 subjects participated in the interview: 602 in the US, 1306 in Europe. The investigators diagnosed 984 with GERD and they found that 74% of these subjects were using prescription medication. A total of 924 subjects were undiagnosed.

Mean subject age was 48 years, and mean symptom duration was 9.3 years.

Among 1523 subjects who reported having symptoms in the 7 days prior to completing the questionnaire, 55% of diagnosed and 45% of undiagnosed subjects reported that GERD symptoms caused them to awaken during the night.

The 1111 subjects who were employed at the time of the study reported being absent from work a mean of 18 minutes a week due to GERD symptoms, and they showed a mean 10% impairment in work productivity over the week. These numbers increased to 30 minutes and 15% impairment, respectively, in subjects who claimed to have sleep disturbance due to GERD symptoms. Subjects who did not experience sleep disturbance reported 6 minutes of lost work time due to GERD symptoms and a mean of 8% impairment of work productivity over the week.

Subjects reported a mean of 14% impairment in their non-work-related activities due to GERD symptoms (n = 1908), which increased to 22% among those reporting sleep disturbance compared to 10% in those who did not report sleep disturbance.

"We physicians really need to ask our patients if they are having disturbed sleep, irrespective of whether they report heartburn first of all," Dr. Liker said, "because disturbed sleep will, our research shows, impair work and leisure time. We will also probably find that a large number of these patients have GERD, and would benefit from treatment."

The research was supported by AstraZeneca.


[Presentation title: The Effect Of Sleep Disturbance Due To Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease on Work and Leisure Productivity: Results From a Multinational Survey. Abstract M1756]

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