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Risk of incident gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients with sleep disorders: a population-based cohort study

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Abstract

Sleep disorders pose a serious threat to human, which may cause variety diseases. Recent reviews on the epidemiology examine that gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has different levels of causality about asthma, chronic dry cough, sleep apnea, non-cardiac chest pain, chest tightness, and chronic bronchitis. The relationship between sleep disorders and GERD has been explained in various ways, but only limited reports on the complication rates in Taiwan. The objective of this follow-up study is to evaluate the risk of incident GERD in Taiwanese people with sleep disorders from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2012. We used the Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database to conduct a nationwide population-based cohort study to assess the risk of incident GERD in people with sleep disorders. A total of 66,133 sleep disorders patients and 264,532 non-sleep disorders controls were included. Sleep disorders was a risk factor of incident GERD (adjusted hazard ratio being 1.722, 95% CI 1.69–1.76, p < 0.001) after controlling potential confounders including age, sex, comorbidities, and hiatal hernia. In conclusion, sleep disorders might be a risk factor for development of GERD based on the 12-year follow-up.

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All data underlying the findings are within the paper.

Abbreviations

CCI:

Charlson Comorbidity Index

GERD:

Gastroesophageal reflux disease

NHIRD:

National Health Insurance Research Database

NHI:

National Health Insurance

LHID:

Longitudinal Health Insurance Database

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Sunflower Statistical Consulting Company, Kaohsiung, Taiwan for statistical advice.

Funding

There was no additional financial support from public or private sources.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Yu-Hsien Cheng and Tao-Hsin Tung have contributed equally in this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, College of Health Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Yu-Hsien Cheng

  2. Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Hsien Cheng

  3. Department of Medical Research and Education, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tao-Hsin Tung

  4. Taiwan Association of Health Industry Management and Development Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

    Pei-En Chen

  5. Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Pei-En Chen

  6. School of Medicine, Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ching-Yao Tsai

  7. Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ching-Yao Tsai

Authors
  1. Yu-Hsien Cheng
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  2. Tao-Hsin Tung
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  3. Pei-En Chen
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  4. Ching-Yao Tsai
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Contributions

YHC, PEC, CWC, CYT, and THT conducted the study and drafted the manuscript. YHC and PEC participated in the design of the study and performed statistical analyses. CYT and THT conceived the study, and participated in its design and coordination. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ching-Yao Tsai.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no proprietary interest in any aspect of this study.

Ethics approval

The study is in accordance with Helsinki Declaration. As the National Health Research Institute had addressed the confidentiality assurance issue, a full review of this study was waived by the Institution Review Board of Taipei Veterans General Hospital (IRB-TPEVGH No: 2015-11-001BC). The data supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article.

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Cheng, YH., Tung, TH., Chen, PE. et al. Risk of incident gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients with sleep disorders: a population-based cohort study. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 19, 5–11 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-020-00282-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-020-00282-w

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