SynthesisSaudi medical journal2025
Prevalence and risk factors of gastroesophageal reflux disease among population of Saudi Arabia: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Saudi medical journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence and risk factors of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease and childhood asthma: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Sex hormones and functional gastrointestinal disorders in menopausal women.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo find how common gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is in Saudi Arabia and to identify the main risk factors linked to it.
methodsWe followed PRISMA guidelines and registered the study on PROSPERO (CRD42025637142). A full literature search was done across PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar up to December 2024. Two reviewers independently reviewed the results. We assessed the risk of bias using the JBI critical appraisal tool and evaluated potential reporting bias through Egger's test. To determine the overall prevalence and key contributing risk factors, we conducted a meta-analysis utilizing a random-effects approach. We also did subgroup analyses based on gender and other variables. STATA version 17 was used for all analyses.
resultsIn total, we included 22 cross-sectional studies with 18,487 participants altogether. The combined prevalence of GERD in both genders was 33%. Males had a prevalence of 34%, and females were close at 33%. Common risk factors were observed such as smoking (44%), eating fast food (43%), spicy food (34%), NSAID use (31%), and drinking tea or coffee (32%). The substantial heterogeneity observed (I² >95%) could potentially be attributed to variations in methodological approaches or differences in the characteristics of the sampled populations. Therefore, a random-effect model was used for all analyses.
conclusionGastroesophageal reflux disease appears to have a higher prevalence in Saudi Arabia relative to global figures. The findings underscore several prominent risk factors frequently observed within the region, indicating the importance of enhancing public awareness and implementing focused lifestyle interventions to help reduce and control the impact of GERD.
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