Does weather and time have any effect on gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms in a sample of the Saudi community?

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine if there was any correlation between weather and time and their effects on gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms. Methods: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire to gather information from the population of Saudi Arabia aged above 16 years. The questionnaire included questions regarding the demographic factors of the patients, the severity of GERD in patients, and whether the symptoms change depending on the weather and time of day. Results: In this study, the data were collected from 400 participants. Among the sample, 31% were aged between 16 and 25 years old and 57% were females. Furthermore, 40.0% of the patients described the severity of pain associated with GERD as moderate, while 6.7% reported having very severe pain. Considering the relation between symptoms of GERD and climate differences, it was found that morning was the last time that was reported by patients to have severe and painful reflux (15%). Moreover, almost three quarters of the participants reported having severe and painful reflux in both the summer and winter seasons (35.5% and 39.3%). Furthermore, most of the participants reported that symptoms become worse at high temperatures (36.5%) and low temperatures (36.8%). Conclusion: There was a significant relation between the symptoms of GERD and weather and time of the day. Severe symptoms of GERD were found to be reported significantly at bedtime and in extreme weather conditions (high and low temperatures). The results were not affected by the demographic factors of the patients.