A short meal-to-bed time drastically increases GERD risk in pregnant women: Study

Written By : Dr Satabdi Saha |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-06-14T09:15:54+05:30 | Updated On 14 Jun 2021 1:22 PM IST

A recent study has reported for the first time that short meal-to-bed time was a predominant risk factor of GERD in pregnancy. This dieting habit was significantly associated with reflux symptom frequency and reflux-related insomnia. The interesting findings have been put forth in Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

Short meal-to-bed time (MTBT) has been reported to relate to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but evidence is lacking in pregnant women. Researchers aimed to assess the characteristics of GERD and the association between MTBT and GERD during pregnancy.

For the study design,A cross-sectional study was carried out on 400 pregnant women aged 18 years and older visiting the antenatal clinic of Gia-Dinh People's Hospital, Vietnam. GERD was defined as having troublesome heartburn and/or regurgitation at least once a week. Reflux-related insomnia was defined as having difficulties in initiating or maintaining sleep through the night. MTBT was defined as "short" if it was ≤2 hours in more than two thirds of days in a week.

Results revealed some key facts.

There were 154 (38.5%) patients with GERD and 20 (13.0%) patients with reflux-related insomnia. In multivariate analysis, there were 3 factors significantly associated with GERD: third trimester [odds ratio (OR)=1.66; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-2.69], previous history of typical reflux symptoms (OR=9.05; 95% CI: 5.29-15.50), and short MTBT (OR=12.73; 95% CI: 2.92-55.45).
The frequency of reflux symptoms progressively increased across subgroups of patients with no short MTBT, either daytime or nighttime short MTBT, and with both daytime and nighttime short MTBT.
Nighttime MTBT was also a significant risk factor for reflux-related insomnia (OR=4.60; 95% CI: 1.64-12.92).

"We reported for the first time that short MTBT was a predominant risk factor of GERD in pregnancy. This dieting habit was significantly associated with reflux symptom frequency and reflux-related insomnia."the team concluded.

Fo full article follow the link: doi: 10.1097/MCG.0000000000001399

Source: Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

GERDshort meal time to bedtime#pregnancyjournal of cinical gastroenterology

Source : Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Dr Satabdi Saha

Dr Satabdi Saha (BDS, MDS) is a practicing pediatric dentist with a keen interest in new medical researches and updates. She has completed her BDS from North Bengal Dental College ,Darjeeling. Then she went on to secure an ALL INDIA NEET PG rank and completed her MDS from the first dental college in the country – Dr R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital. She is currently attached to The Marwari Relief Society Hospital as a consultant along with private practice of 2 years. She has published scientific papers in national and international journals. Her strong passion of sharing knowledge with the medical fraternity has motivated her to be a part of Medical Dialogues.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751