Gastro Oesophageal Reflux Survey Results - Executive Summary

Gastro Oesophageal Reflux (GORD, GERD) Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who completed the Gastro Oesophageal Reflux Survey on www.parentsown.co.uk.

We had a phenomenal response and there are some very interesting results which you will see for yourself.

If you want a more in depth analysis of the results, visit our Gastro Oesophageal Reflux Survey Results Page by clicking here

If you'd like to comment about the results, either click the add comment link at the bottom of the page and leave a comment or visit the Survey Results Thread in our reflux forums which has been set up specifically to discuss the results.

Summary of Results

Just over a quarter of the children in our survey were born prematurely which is a lot higher than the national average for premature births. Nearly a fifth were tube-fed at some point. Some children didn’t recover from reflux till they were over 5.

The majority of children suffered from vomiting but fewer suffered projectile vomiting. Over half of children suffered severe screaming episodes, 93% had some degree of sleep problem and back arching affected 95% children. Reluctance to feed affected 93% of the children to some degree and needing to feed small and often affected 91.5%. Interestingly, only 13.48% of children suffered from severe weight loss and 39.72% didn’t suffer from any weight loss at all.

We found that Gaviscon was the most common treatment offered by GP’s and that 73% of parents said treatment offered by their GP was unsuccessful. 67.31% of children were later referred to a Paediatrician.

We asked parents to rate the information and support they were given by medical professionals and the results suggested that there is a lot of improvement that could be made in the support they offer to families with reflux. In particular, health visitors were given the lowest score, suggesting low satisfaction.

80% of parents said that a lack of information and support from the medical profession made caring for a child with reflux more distressing. Results also showed that parents frequently experienced stress and anxiety, depression, loneliness and feeling unable to cope.

Results suggest that over a third of children have developed medical complications as a result of reflux. The survey also showed that 48.23% of parents said that their child has signs of food aversions or feeding problems, 10% suffered from eczema and 30% of children had Apnoea and Respiratory Problems. Interestingly, 59.45% of parents said that their child had known food allergies and intolerances.

Lots of parents left us comments about their experiences and we feel one mother really summed up what most of us have been through:

“Lack of understanding among the medical profession and general society causes mothers of reflux babies to become very stressed, self diagnosing their children and demanding answers which should be more available”

If you'd like to comment about the results, either click the add comment link at the bottom of this page and leave a comment or visit the Survey Results Thread in our reflux forums which has been set up specifically to discuss the results.

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