Shamail Zafar, Israr Ul Haq, Sara Shaoib, Aftab Shah, Adeel Ur Rehman, Ameed Ur Rehman, Gulsena Masood Khan, Nusrat Ullah Chaudry.
Correlation of endoscopic severity of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) with body mass index (BMI).
Surgimed Med Dent J Jan ;1(1):14-8.

Objective: To assess the correlation of endoscopic severity of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) with body mass index (BMI). Design: It was a cross sectional study. Place & Duration of Study: Study was conducted at Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital & Surgimed Hospital Lahore, from Sept 2004 to March 2006. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted on 203 patients who presented with upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Patients who fulfilled the symptom criteria were referred for endoscopy. Classification of GERD was done according to Los Angeles (LA) Grading classification system. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as body weight (BW) in kilograms (kg) divided by the square of the body height (BH) in meter m2. Patient data was analyzed using SPSS 10 software. Statistical evaluation was done using non-parametric Wilcoxon`s-sign Rank test. P value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Distribution of GERD was as follows: GERD A in 65 (32%) subjects, GERD B in 72 (35.4%) subjects, GERD C in 23 (11.3%) subjects and GERD D in 10 (4.92%) subjects, while non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) was present in 33 subjects (16.2%). Mean BMI was 27+5.02SD (range of 18.2-38.3). BMI of patients having NERD was in normal range. Patients who were having advanced disease i.e. Grade C-D were in obese range of BMI, while those having LA grade A-B were in overweight BMI range. When we regrouped them as mild GERD (grade A-B) & NERD versus severe GERD (grade C-D) there was a strong significant correlation between severity of GERD and BMI, as detected by Wilcoxon`s-sign Rank test (p=0.001). Conclusion: Higher BMI seems to be associated with higher degree of endoscopic GERD severity.

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