Ms. Wang was often troubled by stomach discomfort and sometimes a foreign body sensation in her throat. At first, she thought it was due to her strenuous work and irregular diet, and did not take the discomfort to heart. However, as the weather turned cold, Ms. Wang often felt a feeling of heartburn, indigestion after meals, and reflux of food in her stomach. Ms. Wang found the stomach medicine at home, but after eating for several days, the symptoms still did not improve, and gradually, the quality of sleep was also affected. Worried, she went into the hospital, and after careful questioning by a gastroenterologist, she learned that the disease she had was called GERD. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Sun Chaoyong Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a discomfort and complication caused by the reflux of stomach contents, and its main symptoms are reflux and heartburn (a burning sensation in the retrosternal region). The disease can cause a decrease in the quality of life of the patient in mild cases and complicate reflux esophagitis, esophageal stricture, dysphagia, and esophageal adenocarcinoma in severe cases. At present, GERD is characterized by high incidence, low awareness, low consultation rate and low treatment rate, i.e. “one high, three low”. Research shows that GERD affects people’s daily life in many ways: Sleeplessness: Up to 80% of GERD patients have difficulty sleeping due to heartburn. Can’t eat well: More than two-thirds of patients believe the disease substantially affects their eating habits. In order to avoid eating foods that may cause heartburn, it limits their range of food choices to some extent. Not doing well: About one-third of patients felt that GERD affected their productivity. Not playing well: GERD also affects people’s social activities and hobbies. Younger patients seldom take the initiative to seek medical advice GERD is a highly prevalent chronic disease, like hypertension and diabetes. Surveys show that the prevalence of GERD in China is about 5.77%, and in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an, the prevalence is as high as 16.98%. However, unlike patients with hypertension and diabetes, half of them do not know what kind of disease it is. Professor Yuan Yaozong, deputy director of the Department of Gastroenterology at Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University, told reporters that most of the patients who come to the clinic are middle-aged and elderly, while the consultation rate of the young people, another high-risk group for the disease, is worrying. With the change of diet and increasing work pressure, middle-aged and young people have become the key target of GERD attack, and the accelerated pace of work, irregular diet and strong mental pressure may become the triggering factors of the disease. However, these people who are busy with their careers always hold back from seeing a doctor whenever symptoms appear, or go to pharmacies to buy their own stomach medicine, and less than 20% of working patients will take the initiative to go to the hospital. Prof. Yuan Yaozong calls on young people with symptoms of heartburn and reflux not to delay their condition for the sake of work, but to go to the hospital’s GERD clinic or gastroenterology department as soon as possible. Taking medication on your own may cause related complications, such as esophagitis, bleeding, and in some patients, even life-threatening emergencies such as asthma, laryngospasm, and asphyxia. If not properly treated for a long time, it may develop into esophageal stricture and even induce esophageal adenocarcinoma. Patients tend to go to the wrong clinic Most patients with GERD will show discomfort such as heartburn, reflux and chest pain, but many others show symptoms such as reflux asthma, reflux cough, hoarseness, foreign body sensation in the throat and insomnia. This is because acid reflux to the esophagus may continue upward into the lungs, causing reflux asthma, and to the mouth of the throat, causing a foreign body sensation in the throat, hoarseness and recurrent cough. The survey found that nearly 30% of patients do not experience the common symptoms of heartburn and reflux, but only a foreign body sensation in the throat. It is the complex and diverse symptoms of GERD that lead patients to go to the wrong clinic from time to time. Prof. Yuan Yaozong says that he always receives a lot of patients who are referred from respiratory and cardiology departments in the outpatient clinic. Therefore, he suggests that patients with unexplained insomnia, persistent chronic cough, asthma (non-allergic) and retrosternal discomfort in adulthood that has not been cured in other departments should be alerted to GERD. Don’t be “fooled” by gastroscopy reports Some people have been ill for years without detecting GERD. These patients have obvious symptoms, but the gastroscopy shows everything is normal, so they neglect treatment. This is because 60 to 70 percent of GERD does not show up as esophageal mucosal erosion on endoscopy, says Prof. Yuan Yaozong. Therefore, a normal gastroscopy report does not mean that everything is fine. Patients should tell their doctors in detail about their symptoms when they visit them, and they will make a diagnosis by using the GERD questionnaire and combining it with the patient’s actual symptoms. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, common proton pump inhibitors can be administered symptomatically and the vast majority of patients will improve after 8 weeks.