EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PREVALENCE OF GASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX DISEASE IN SLOVENIA
Abstract
Background. No adequate epidemiological study of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has as yet been conducted in Slovenia. This epidemiological study provided data on the frequency of upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopies in a limited geographic region. The obtained data were used for a projection of the epidemiological situation of GERD in Slovenia. Over a period of 24 working days, the inhabitants of the Gorenjska region underwent 859 endoscopies (50.8% of the patients were males). Esophagitis was diagnosed in 167 patients (19.5% of the total number of the patients examined) of whom 102 were of male and 65 of female sex. The most frequently diagnosed condition was gastritis (139 patients). Other very frequently obtained findings included hiatal hernia, duodenitis and a normal finding. Our calculation revealed that approximately 9000 patients consulted a general practitioner due to GERD symptoms in the year 2000. Our calculations were made on the assumption that general practitioners refer 50% of the patients to a specialist and that esophagitis is endoscopically diagnosed in 40% of GERD patients.
Conclusions. Considering that, according to literature data, 25% of patients with dyspeptic symptoms visit a physician, the calculated prevalence of GERD among the population between 10 and 89 years comes to 20.5%. Projection of this figure to the entire Slovenia gives the number of people suffering from the reflux disease and which is over 363,000.
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