Consultation rates and characteristics of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in primary care: A European observational study

Abstract

Objective. To report on the primary care consultation rates and clinical characteristics of patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) as part of the RANGE (Retrospective ANalysis of GERD) observational study. Methods. RANGE was conducted at 134 primary care centres across six European countries. All subjects who consulted their primary care physician during a 4-month identification period were screened retrospectively. Those consulting for GERD-related reasons were identified, and a randomly selected cohort underwent clinical interview. Results. Out of 373,610 consultations in the six countries, 12,815 (3.4%) were for GERD-related reasons (inter-country range: 1.4–7.4%). From 2678 patients interviewed (24.7% of whom had been previously diagnosed with reflux oesophagitis), symptom recurrence following remission was the most common reason for primary care consultation (35.1%; range: 22.3–51.7%). Some 12.7% of patients (range: 9.1–21.4%) consulted due to persistence of previous symptoms, and 16.2% (range: 8.2–35.6%) had never consulted before regarding GERD-related symptoms.

Conclusion: Consultation rates for GERD-related reasons, and the clinical characteristics of consulting patients, vary widely across Europe. Symptom recurrence after an initial period of remission, and persistent symptoms, were important reasons for consultation, emphasizing the need for improved management of primary care patients with GERD across Europe.

Key words::

• Characteristics
• consultation
• gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• oesophagitis
• primary care

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by AstraZeneca. The authors thank Claire Byrne and Anna Mett, from Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions (Auckland, New Zealand), who provided medical writing support funded by AstraZeneca.

Disclosures: Dr J. P. Gisbert has received educational/research grants and consulting fees from AstraZeneca; Dr A. Cooper has no competing interests to declare; Dr D. Karagiannis has received research grants from Abbott, and speaker fees from Janssen, AstraZeneca, and Falk (Galenica); Dr J. Hatlebakk has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca; Dr L. Agréus has received research grants and speaker fees from AstraZeneca, and is a former advisory board member for Orexo AB; Dr H. Jablonowski has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca; Dr M. Tafalla is an employee of AstraZeneca.