RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is increasing in Korea. The aim of this study is to evaluate the dietary habit which is commonly known as risk factor of GERD and the quality of life in GERD patients. METHODS: This study enrolled 52 patients (ERD; erosive reflux disease 38, NERD; non-erosive reflux disease 14) as patient group. They were completed the questionnaires about dietary habit and quality of life. All datas were compared with 23 healthy volunteer group who visited same hospital for health screening. RESULTS: Patient group had more dietary risk factors such as unbalanced diet, irregular diet, using lots of sauces, having snacks or meals within 3 hours of bedtime and suffering from epigastric discomfort after alcohol drinking (p<0.05). Patient group preferred to have spicy food, soft drink, coffee and tea, fried food, instant food and noodles (p<0.05). ERD group more frequently had snacks or meals just before sleep, suffered from discomfort after drinking, and preferred to have fried food (p<0.05). GERD patients reported significantly worse scores on 6 SF-36 scales, such as physical function, role limitations-physical, role limitations-emotional, mental health, social function, and general health perception. CONCLUSIONS: We found that ERD patients had more snacks or meals within 3 hours of bedtime and fried food. Also, they were suffering from epigastric discomfort after alcohol drinking. Patients with GERD experienced decrements in health-related quality of life compared with the control subjects.