The prevalence of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and its relationship with diet and obesity among public school teachers in Abeokuta, south-west Nigeria

Background: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a common chronic disorder in the high-income countries; and thought to be rare in low- and middle-income-countries. Lifestyle and diets have been suggested among others, as risk factors contributing to the development and severity of GORD. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of GORD and its association with dietary items and obesity among public school teachers in Abeokuta, south-western Nigeria.
Methods: School teachers from 24 randomly selected public schools in Abeokuta were involved in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on respondents’ bio data, food frequency and Carlson-Dent scores were calculated for each respondent. A score of 4 and above on the Carlsson-Dent questionnaire was considered diagnostic of GORD. Each respondent had his or her weight, height, waist circumference and hip circumference measured. Body mass index and waist-hip ratio were calculated for each respondent.
Results: A total of 550 teachers participated in the study. The prevalence of GORD was found to be 13.8% among the teachers. There was a significant association between chocolate consumption and frequency of GORD (p=0.01). There was no association between consumption of soft drinks (p=0.673), kola nut (P=0.451), beer (p=0.674), bitter kola (0.425), groundnut (0.442), cowpeas (p=0.442), walnut (p=0.905), gari (p=0.931), fufu (p= 0.249) and lafun (p=0.480) and the frequency of GORD. Similarly, no association was found between obesity (BMI, p=0.738), waist-hip ratio (p=0.56) and the frequency of GORD.
Conclusion: GORD is common among public school teachers in Abeokuta with a prevalence of 13.8%. Except for consumption of chocolate, no association was found between frequency of GORD and consumption of majority of the dietary items considered in this study.