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

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.