Natural history of heartburn: A 10-year population-based study

Table 1 Transition among symptom subgroups between the initial and final surveys

FGID in 1996	Proportion of FGID in 2006 based on primary survey disorder (%)
	FD	IBS	Heartburn	Frequent abdominal pain	No symptoms
FD (n = 111)	52.31	21.63	14.43	1.83	9.94
IBS (n = 152)	25.02	30.31	19.73	4.63	20.44
Heartburn (n = 173)	12.12	12.12	39.31	4.63	31.84
Frequent abdominal pain (n = 39)	12.82	23.12	17.92	15.41	30.84
No symptoms (n = 324)	3.45	9.95	17.35	6.25	63.36

¹Stable;

²Increased symptoms;

³Decreased symptoms;

⁴Became asymptomatic;

⁵Developed symptoms;

⁶Remaining asymptomatic. FGID: Functional gastrointestinal disorder; FD: Functional dyspepsia; IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome.

Table 2 Study population: age and sex distribution

	Population 2006 (%)	Respondents 2006 (%)
Gender
Male	50.3	42.2
Female	49.7	57.8
Age (yr)
28-35	19.5	14.52
36-45	24.9	20.40
46-55	22.8	22.15
56-65	15.6	19.52
66-75	10.4	15.14
76-85	6.8	8.26
Total number	173 859	799

Table 3 Sociodemographic characteristics and the development and disappearance of heartburn

	n	Never HB (%)	Lost HB (%)	Retained HB (%)	Developed HB (%)	χ2	P-value
Gender						1.687	0.640
Male	330	40.3	14.5	30.3	14.8
Female	441	41.5	14.7	26.5	17.2
Age group (yr)						15.542	< 0.05a
66-85	170	54.8	10.6	27.1	10.6
36-65	488	37.3	16.4	29.3	17.0
28-35	113	40.7	13.3	24.8	21.2
BMI (kg/m2)						21.685	< 0.01b
> 30	154	31.8	14.3	37.0	16.9
> 25 and ≤ 30	314	37.3	14.3	31.5	16.9
≤ 25	286	49.3	15.0	19.9	15.7
Level of education						6.156	0.724
> 4 years’ further education	225	39.6	12.9	28.9	18.7
3-4 years’ further education	279	41.9	17.6	25.1	15.4
< 3 years’ further education	92	39.1	13.0	33.7	14.1
No further education	161	41.6	13.0	29.8	15.5
Employment status						6.276	0.099
Employed	574	39.7	15.5	27.0	17.8
No employment	189	44.4	12.2	31.7	11.6
Alcohol						4.503	0.609
≥ 7 drinks per week	43	37.2	9.3	34.9	18.6
1-6 drinks per week	404	39.1	14.6	28.2	18.1
No alcohol	309	43.0	15.5	27.5	13.9
Smoking						8.773	0.187
Smokers, > 15 cigarettes per day	63	34.9	20.6	25.4	19.0
Smokers, ≤ 15 cigarettes per day	113	31.9	17.7	34.5	15.9
No smoking	496	43.5	13.7	26.2	16.5

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01. HB: Heartburn; BMI: Body mass index.

Table 4 Heartburn and relationship to medication, food/beverages and tiredness

Variable	n	% of heartburn prior week
On constant medication	30	27.3
Medication only when experiencing symptoms	77	85.6
Tiredness (lethargy)
Frequent	20	13.2
Sometimes/seldom	73	48.0
Never	59	38.8
Heartburn caused by food and beverages
Very often	32	20.0
Sometimes/seldom	118	73.8
Never	10	6.3
Increased heartburn caused by specific food
Very often	35	22.7
Sometimes/seldom	92	59.7
Never	27	17.5

Table 5 Symptoms or activities affected by heartburn (caused by heartburn)

Variable	n	% of heartburn prior week
Felt bad
Frequent	21	13.1
Sometimes/seldom	119	74.4
Never	20	12.5
Less food and beverages consumption
Frequent	9	5.9
Sometimes/seldom	77	50.3
Never	67	43.8
Less family activities
Frequent	1	0.6
Sometimes/seldom	32	20.8
Never	121	78.6
Trouble with sleeping
Frequent	9	5.8
Sometimes/seldom	70	45.2
Never	76	49.0
Felt hopeless, worried or impatient
Frequent	9	5.8
Sometimes/seldom	42	27.3
Never	103	66.9
Felt worried or scared for their health
Frequent	5	3.2
Sometimes/seldom	47	30.3
Never	103	66.5
Felt irritable
Frequent	21	13.6
Sometimes/seldom	80	51.9
Never	53	34.4
Neglect specific food or alcohol
Frequent	36	23.1
Seldom	66	42.3
Never	54	34.6
Affects their daily activities
Frequent	3	1.9
Sometimes/seldom	32	20.5
Never	121	77.6
Unable to move (sports, hobbies and outside of home)
Frequent	3	1.9
Sometimes/seldom	34	21.8
Never	119	73.6