Epidemiology
The term reflux esophagitis was first proposed by Allison in 1946 and referred to esophageal injury caused by caustic gastric juices which would reflux back into the distal esophagus. GE reflux is now recognized as an extremely common disorder, however, accurate estimates of the incidence of this disease have proved difficult secondary to the absence of a good definition of the disorder, due to the presence of silent GE reflux disease, and due to a lack of agreement as to a “gold standard.”
Epidemiologic studies done with hospital employees revealed that 7% had symptomatic heartburn on a daily basis while 15% had heartburn on a monthly basis. Surveys of pregnant women reveal symptomatic heartburn on a daily basis in 50-80%. Not all patients with symptomatic heartburn, however, will have GE reflux disease confirmed on 24 hour pH probe, and only a portion of these (40-70%) will have endoscopically apparent erosive esophagitis.