Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of eligible participants
| Men | Women | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GERD (n 309) | % (3·9) | Total (n 8010) | GERD (n 764) | % (5·9) | Total (n 12 916) | |
| Country of birth | ||||||
| Australia/New Zealand/Northern Europe | 278 | 4·0 | 6911 | 666 | 6·0 | 11 160 |
| Southern Europe | 31 | 2·8 | 1099 | 98 | 5·6 | 1756 |
| SEIFA quintiles | ||||||
| 1 (most disadvantaged) | 51 | 4·5 | 1130 | 128 | 6·5 | 1957 |
| 2 | 43 | 3·0 | 1456 | 145 | 5·9 | 2446 |
| 3 | 61 | 4·6 | 1333 | 127 | 6·1 | 2087 |
| 4 | 73 | 4·6 | 1602 | 138 | 5·6 | 2477 |
| 5 | 81 | 3·3 | 2489 | 226 | 5·7 | 3949 |
| Level of education | ||||||
| Primary school or less | 13 | 2·2 | 603 | 78 | 5·7 | 1371 |
| Some high/technical school | 106 | 4·4 | 2433 | 365 | 6·5 | 5597 |
| Completed high/technical school | 86 | 4·1 | 2078 | 150 | 6·0 | 2487 |
| Completed tertiary education | 104 | 3·6 | 2896 | 171 | 4·9 | 3461 |
| Cigarette smoking | ||||||
| Never | 144 | 3·7 | 3893 | 492 | 5·8 | 8443 |
| Former | 125 | 4·2 | 2993 | 191 | 6·0 | 3159 |
| Current | 40 | 3·6 | 1124 | 81 | 6·2 | 1314 |
| Alcohol consumption | ||||||
| Lifetime abstainers | 38 | 4·4 | 870 | 242 | 6·3 | 3856 |
| Ex-drinkers | 37 | 4·0 | 919 | 69 | 6·0 | 1152 |
| <20 g/d | 152 | 4·3 | 3535 | 362 | 5·7 | 6400 |
| 20–39 g/d | 48 | 3·1 | 1551 | 72 | 6·3 | 1146 |
| ≥40 g/d | 34 | 3·0 | 1135 | 19 | 5·2 | 362 |
| Leisure-time physical activity | ||||||
| 1 (least active) | 63 | 3·7 | 1716 | 178 | 6·6 | 2693 |
| 2 | 57 | 3·8 | 1498 | 166 | 6·2 | 2699 |
| 3 | 83 | 3·6 | 2317 | 240 | 5·4 | 4458 |
| 4 | 106 | 4·3 | 2479 | 180 | 5·9 | 3066 |
| Physical exertion at work | ||||||
| No | 247 | 3·7 | 6589 | 683 | 5·8 | 11 699 |
| Yes | 62 | 4·4 | 1421 | 81 | 6·7 | 1217 |
GERD, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease; SEIFA, socio-economic index for area.