Eating near bedtime promotes GERD in pregnant women

A short meal-to-bedtime (MTBT) may cause problems during pregnancy, contributing to an increased risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and reflux-related insomnia, a study has found.

Researchers looked at 400 pregnant women visiting an antenatal clinic and assessed the dietary habits of the women in relation to reflux complaints. MTBT was considered short if it was ≤2 hours in more than two-thirds of days in a week.

Of the patients, 154 (38.5 percent) had GERD and 20 (13.0 percent) had reflux-related insomnia. GERD was defined as having troublesome heartburn and/or regurgitation at least once a week, while reflux-related insomnia was described as difficulties in initiating or maintaining sleep through the night.

In multivariate logistic regression models, three risk factors for GERD emerged. These were third trimester of pregnancy (odds ratio [OR], 1.66, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.03–2.69), previous history of typical reflux symptoms (OR, 9.05, 95 percent CI, 5.29–15.50), and short MTBT (OR, 12.73, 95 percent CI, 2.92–55.45).

The frequency of reflux symptoms progressively increased across the following patient subgroups: no short MTBT, either daytime or night-time short MTBT, and with both daytime and night-time short MTBT. Night-time MTBT was associated with a more than fourfold increased likelihood of reflux-related insomnia (OR, 4.60, 95 percent CI, 1.64–12.92).