Description:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p><jats:bold>Background </jats:bold> Little is known about the distinctive characteristics of subjects with frequent (at least weekly) and occasional gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Aim </jats:bold> To compare the characteristics and disease management of subjects complaining of at least weekly and less frequent gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods </jats:bold> Population‐based postal survey carried out in France in 2003 among a representative sample of 8000 subjects.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results </jats:bold> The prevalence of frequent and occasional gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms was 7.8% and 23.4%, respectively. Compared to subjects with occasional gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms, those with frequent symptoms were older, suffered from more severe symptoms and felt greater impact on daily living, despite a slightly shorter duration of symptoms. These subjects more often sought medical advice. Most of them had treated the last episode of symptoms primarily with a proton‐pump inhibitor and less often with antacids/alginates. The degree of treatment satisfaction was lower in subjects with frequent gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms, in relation to a more frequently observed persistence of symptoms irrespective of the medication used except for proton‐pump inhibitors.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions </jats:bold> This survey suggests that subjects complaining of frequent or occasional gastro‐oesophageal reflux symptoms constitute two distinctive groups. Despite greater healthcare use, the former group shows a lower level of satisfaction with disease management. Nevertheless, a substantial subset of subjects with occasional symptoms also complained of impaired health‐related quality of life and sought health care.</jats:p>