Table 1

Socio-demographic and disease characteristics of patients allocated to GERD-education vs. control groups, recorded at baseline.


Education (n = 102)
Control (n = 109)

Age, years
47 (12)
47 (14)

Sex (female)
49%
50%

Primary school only
31%
34%

Cohabitating
77%
80%

Blue-collar worker
22%
22%

BMI (kg/m2)
26 (3.6)
26 (4.7)

Previous history of serious disease
14%
17%

Length of GERD history (months)
166 (151)
169 (154)

Esophagitis
60%
51%

Having used H2-blocker or PPI
72%
63%

Ranitidine responder
41% (n = 74)
47% (n = 71)

Somatic comorbidity
53%
54%

Psychiatric comorbidity
8%
10%

Continuous variables are means (SD), categorical variables are percentages.

Urnes et al. BMC Health Services Research 2008 8:236   doi:10.1186/1472-6963-8-236