Overlapping gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome: Increased dysfunctional symptoms

Table 1 Comparison of frequency of functional symptoms in patients with IBS, GERD and GERD + IBS

Frequency	GERD only patients (n = 1522)	IBS only patients (n = 738)	GERD + IBS (n = 433)	P value
				IBS vs GERD	GERD + IBS vs IBS	GERD + IBS vs GERD
Nausea	10.8%	6.2%	15.9%	0.02	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Vomiting	11.6%	3.3%	18.8%	< 0.0001	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Epigastric pain	18.9%	14.9%	22.9%	0.037	< 0.0001	< 0.0001
Belching	4.1%	6.4%	10.2%	0.03	0.015	< 0.0001
Headache	2.8%	4.4%	6.8%	0.058	0.07	< 0.0001
Back pain	3.6%	3.3%	6.0%	0.74	0.025	0.004

Pair-wise comparison of frequency of nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, belching, headache and low back pain in patients with IBS alone, GERD alone and GERD + IBS showed that the frequency of all of these functional symptoms was significantly higher in patients in GERD + IBS group. IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome; GERD: Gastroesophageal reflux disease.