Camilleri M et al. (2005) Prevalence and socioeconomic impact of upper gastrointestinal disorders in the United States: results of the US Upper Gastrointestinal Study. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 3: 543–552

Although the epidemiology of upper gastrointestinal symptoms has been well documented, epidemiological studies regarding such symptoms have been limited by a number of factors, including sample size and methods. The US Upper Gastrointestinal Study by Camilleri and colleagues was carried out to gain insight into the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal symptoms, their groupings and their influence on the number of disability days, in a representative sample of the North American population.

The presence of upper gastrointestinal symptoms over the 3 months prior to the study and the number of days of work, leisure activity and household activity lost because of illness, were determined by means of a telephone survey of 21,128 English-speaking adults. Participants were then classified as symptomatic (≥1 symptom per month) or asymptomatic.

The results indicated that 44.9% of participants were symptomatic during the past 3 months and that early satiety, heartburn and postprandial fullness were the most prevalent upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Factor and cluster analyses identified four symptom groupings (heartburn/regurgitation, nausea/vomiting, bloating/abdominal pain, and early satiety/loss of appetite) and five respondent clusters, the largest of which was early satiety/fullness. Compared with asymptomatic participants, significantly more work, leisure and household activity days were missed by symptomatic participants.

The authors concluded that the naturally occurring symptom groupings and clusters identified might help physicians in the clinical treatment of upper gastrointestinal disorders, and that upper gastrointestinal symptoms are related to a greater number of disability days in the US population.