Epidemiology of upper gastrointestinal symptoms in Brazil (EpiGastro): A population-based study according to sex and age group

Table 1 Distribution (%) of the study sample and the population of São Paulo according to age, gender, and educational level

Characteristic	Study population	São Paulo population
Age, yr
18-29	26.50	25.71
30-39	21.88	22.22
40-49	19.61	20.25
50-59	16.91	15.15
≥ 60	15.11	16.67
Gender
Male	40.35	46.93
Female	59.65	53.07
Educational level, yr
≤ 8	36.02	42.88
9-11	41.64	35.41
≥ 12	22.34	21.71

Table 2 Distribution (%) of the study sample and the population of São Paulo according to age, gender, and educational level

Gender	Age, yr	Educational level, yr
		Study sample			São Paulo
		≤8	9-11	≥12	≤8	9-11	≥12
Male
	18-39	0.035403	0.120343	0.049406	0.060640	0.115868	0.053637
	40-59	0.057332	0.051783	0.036460	0.085150	0.045360	0.034538
	≥ 60	0.036196	0.008190	0.008322	0.051568	0.009390	0.013051
Female
	18-39	0.044254	0.151651	0.083752	0.056661	0.124781	0.067006
	40-59	0.107266	0.072391	0.040026	0.100748	0.050135	0.038357
	≥ 60	0.079789	0.012021	0.005416	0.074009	0.008595	0.010505

Table 3 Sample weights applied in the post-stratification adjustment

Gender	Age, yr	Educational level, yr
		≤8	9-11	≥12
Male
	18-39	1.71285	0.96281	1.08564
	40-59	1.48523	0.87597	0.94728
	≥ 60	1.42470	1.14654	1.56820
Female
	18-39	1.28037	0.82282	0.80006
	40-59	0.93924	0.69256	0.95830
	≥ 60	0.92757	0.71496	1.93950

Table 4 Patient characteristics¹

Characteristic	n (%)
Gender
Male	1153 (46.9)
Female	1875 (53.1)
Age group, yr
18-29	689 (25.0)
30-49	1338 (41.7)
50-59	498 (16.6)
60-69	286 (10.0)
≥ 70	217 (6.7)
Nutritional status2
Malnourished	78 (2.6)
Normal	1322 (45.8)
Overweight	998 (35.3)
Obese	466 (16.3)
Smoking
Never	1860 (60.5)
No, stopped	675 (22.9)
Yes, < 10 cigarettes/d	219 (7.0)
Yes, 10-20	216 (7.4)
Yes, > 20	58 (2.2)
Marital status3
Single	1037 (35.8)
Married/RDP	1520 (52.5)
Divorced	220 (5.7)
Widowed	239 (6.1)
Education
≤ 4th grade	526 (19.2)
5th-8th grades	610 (23.7)
(in)Complete high school	1209 (35.4)
(in)Complete college	676 (21.7)
Employment status3
Employed	1436 (48.6)
Self-employed	382 (13.9)
Housewife	450 (13.0)
Unemployed	241 (8.4)
Other (not employed)	474 (16.2)

¹Excludes people who refused to provide information;

²Malnutrition was indicated by a body mass index (BMI) < 18.5 kg/m², normal by a BMI = 18.5-24.9 kg/m², overweight by a BMI = 25.0-29.9 kg/m², and obese by a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²;

³Some percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding. RDP: Registered Domestic Partner (for cohabitants).

Table 5 Distribution of symptoms consistent with gastroesophageal reflux disease, by gender n (%)

	Male	Female	Total	P value
Heartburn
No	1074 (92.3)	1649 (87.5)	2723 (89.8)	0.047
≥ 2x/wk	79 (7.7)	226 (12.5)	305 (10.2)
Sensation of stomach burning
No	1065 (91.6)	1635 (85.9)	2700 (88.6)	0.012
≥ 2x/wk	88 (8.4)	240 (14.1)	328 (11.4)
Regurgitation
No	1116 (96.7)	1728 (91.4)	2844 (93.9)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	37 (3.3)	147 (8.6)	184 (6.1)
Difficulty swallowing
No	1136 (98.5)	1827 (97.1)	2963 (97.7)	0.012
≥ 2x/wk	17 (1.5)	48 (2.9)	65 (2.3)
Painful swallowing
No	1149 (99.6)	1850 (98.6)	2999 (99.1)	0.009
≥ 2x/wk	4 (0.4)	25 (1.4)	29 (0.9)
Excess salivation
No	1108 (96.0)	1779 (94.7)	2887 (95.3)	0.274
≥ 2x/wk	45 (4.0)	96 (5.3)	141 (4.7)

P values by χ² tests. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting. x/wk: Times per week.

Table 6 Distribution of symptoms consistent with gastroesophageal reflux disease, by age group (yr) n (%)

Variable	18-29	30-49	50-59	60-69	≥70	Total	P value
Heartburn
No	624 (91.1)	1182 (88.2)	449 (88.4)	259 (92.0)	209 (94.5)	2723 (89.8)	0.152
≥ 2x/wk	65 (8.9)	156 (11.8)	49 (11.6)	27 (8.0)	8 (5.5)	305 (10.2)
Sensation of stomach burning
No	612 (88.5)	1176 (87.6)	444 (86.9)	261 (91.2)	207 (95.2)	2700 (88.6)	0.067
≥ 2x/wk	77 (11.5)	162 (12.4)	54 (13.1)	25 (8.8)	10 (4.8)	328 (11.4)
Regurgitation
No	650 (93.9)	1261 (94.5)	465 (93.3)	264 (92.7)	204 (93.1)	2844 (93.9)	0.847
≥ 2x/wk	39 (6.1)	77 (5.5)	33 (6.7)	22 (7.3)	13 (6.9)	184 (6.1)
Difficulty swallowing
No	672 (97.6)	1314 (98.1)	490 (98.1)	278 (96.8)	209 (96.6)	2963 (97.7)	0.523
≥ 2x/wk	17 (2.4)	24 (1.9)	8 (1.9)	8 (3.2)	8 (3.4)	65 (2.3)
Painful swallowing
No	681 (98.7)	1326 (99.1)	497 (99.9)	282 (99.1)	213 (98.3)	2999 (99.1)	0.160
≥ 2x/wk	8 (1.3)	12 (0.9)	1 (0.1)	4 (0.9)	4 (1.7)	29 (0.9)
Excess salivation
No	666 (96.9)	1264 (94.1)	480 (96.3)	269 (94.0)	208 (96.4)	2887 (95.3)	0.095
≥ 2x/wk	23 (3.1)	74 (5.9)	18 (3.7)	17 (6.0)	9 (3.6)	141 (4.7)

P values by χ² tests. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting. x/wk: Times per week.

Table 7 Distribution of treatments for symptoms consistent with gastroesophageal reflux disease

Treatment	n (%)
Medication
No	2609 (86.4)
Yes:	419 (13.6)
Prescribed by physician	270 (62.6)
Self-medicated	140 (34.2)
Recommended by family/friends	5 (1.4)
Recommended by pharmacist	9 (3.2)
Other therapies/measures
No	2932 (96.7)
Yes:	96 (3.3)
Dietary changes or restrictions	32 (32.8)
Herbal teas	55 (57.4)
Other1	14 (14.7)

¹Includes one individual who answered "yes" but refused to provide further information. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting.

Table 8 Distribution of symptoms consistent with dyspepsia, by gender n (%)

Variable	Male	Female	Total	P value
Impaired digestion
No	1094 (94.5)	1615 (86.1)	2709 (90.0)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	59 (5.5)	260 (13.9)	319 (10.0)
Sensation of fullness1
No	1094 (94.7)	1652 (88.0)	2746 (91.1)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	59 (5.3)	223 (12.0)	282 (8.9)
Abdominal swelling
No	1081 (93.6)	1578 (84.3)	2659 (88.7)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	72 (6.4)	297 (15.7)	369 (11.3)
Abdominal pain
No	1107 (95.9)	1701 (90.6)	2808 (93.1)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	46 (4.1)	174 (9.4)	220 (6.9)
Nausea
No	1124 (97.3)	1719 (91.0)	2843 (94.0)	< 0.001
≥ 2x/wk	29 (2.7)	156 (9.0)	185 (6.0)
Vomiting
No	1140 (98.6)	1819 (97.0)	2959 (97.8)	0.040
≥ 2x/wk	13 (1.4)	56 (3.0)	69 (2.2)

¹After consuming a small amount of food. P values by χ² tests. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting. x/wk: Times per week.

Table 9 Distribution of symptoms consistent with dyspepsia, by age group (yr) n (%)

Variable	18-29	30-49	50-59	60-69	≥70	Total	P value
Impaired digestion
No	622 (90.6)	1182 (89.5)	437 (88.1)	257 (88.6)	211 (97.1)	2709 (90.0)	0.091
≥ 2x/wk	67 (9.4)	156 (10.5)	61 (11.9)	29 (11.4)	6 (2.9)	319 (10.0)
Sensation of fullness1
No	614 (89.7)	1199 (90.3)	463 (93.0)	263 (92.7)	207 (95.0)	2746 (91.1)	0.361
≥ 2x/wk	75 (10.3)	139 (9.7)	35 (7.0)	23 (7.3)	10 (5.0)	282 (8.9)
Abdominal swelling
No	609 (88.8)	1161 (87.8)	429 (87.7)	255 (89.9)	205 (94.7)	2659 (88.7)	0.445
≥ 2x/wk	80 (11.2)	177 (12.2)	69 (12.3)	31 (10.1)	12 (5.3)	369 (11.3)
Abdominal pain
No	638 (93.0)	1232 (92.5)	463 (93.6)	267 (93.9)	208 (95.4)	2808 (93.1)	0.742
≥ 2x/wk	51 (7.0)	106 (7.5)	35 (6.4)	19 (6.1)	9 (4.6)	220 (6.9)
Nausea
No	643 (92.8)	1245 (93.6)	478 (95.8)	267 (93.0)	210 (97.6)	2843 (94.0)	0.227
≥ 2x/wk	46 (7.2)	93 (6.4)	20 (4.2)	19 (7.0)	7 (2.4)	185 (6.0)
Vomiting
No	667 (97.0)	1308 (98.1)	489 (97.8)	281 (97.8)	214 (98.5)	2959 (97.8)	0.660
≥ 2x/wk	22 (3.0)	30 (1.9)	9 (2.2)	5 (2.2)	3 (1.5)	69 (2.2)

¹After consuming a small amount of food. P values by χ² tests. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting. x/wk: Times per week.

Table 10 Distribution of treatments for symptoms consistent with dyspepsia

Treatment	n (%)
Medication
No	2668 (88.9)
Yes:	360 (11.1)
Prescribed by physician	206 (57.4)
Self-medicated	148 (40.8)
Recommended by pharmacist	11 (2.7)
Recommended by family/friends	7 (1.9)
Other therapies/measures
No	2890 (96.0)
Yes:	138 (4.0)
Dietary changes or restrictions	31 (25.5)
Herbal teas	91 (65.5)
Other1	18 (11.6)

¹Includes one individual who answered "yes" but refused to provide further information. Numbers and percentages calculated based on post-hoc weighting.