Table 1.
Characteristics of study groups
| Cases | GERD controls | Population controls | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number or Mean (% or standard deviation) | Number or Mean (% or standard deviation) | Number or Mean (% or standard deviation) | |
| Number of subjects | 320 | 316 | 317 |
| Age (years) | |||
| 20–39 | 9 (3) | 12 (4) | 9 (3) |
| 40–59 | 120 (38) | 116 (37) | 105 (33) |
| 60–79 | 191 (59) | 188 (59) | 203 (64) |
| Race | |||
| White | 261 (82) | 249 (79) | 264 (83) |
| Hispanic | 25 (8) | 20 (6) | 13 (4) |
| Black | 5 (2) | 21 (7) | 17 (5) |
| Asian | 19 (6) | 11 (3) | 12 (4) |
| Others/Mixed/Unknown | 10 (3) | 15 (5) | 11 (4) |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 234 (73) | 218 (69) | 214 (68) |
| Education | |||
| High school or less | 83 (26) | 78 (25) | 60 (19) |
| Some college | 144 (45) | 133 (42) | 120 (38) |
| College and beyond | 93 (29) | 105 (33) | 137 (43) |
| Income1 | |||
| <50k | 136 (46) | 110 (41) | 106 (36) |
| 50–75 | 66 (22) | 61 (23) | 68 (23) |
| 75k+ | 94 (32) | 99 (37) | 121 (41) |
| Smoking status | |||
| Never smoker | 108 (34) | 129 (41) | 140 (44) |
| Current smoker | 51 (16) | 40 (13) | 39 (12) |
| Ever smoker | 212 (66) | 187 (59) | 176 (56) |
| Alcohol use status | |||
| Non drinker | 99 (31) | 114 (36) | 85 (27) |
| Light drinker (<7 drinks2/wk) | 155 (48) | 133 (42) | 158 (50) |
| Moderate drinker (7–13 drinks/wk) | 27 (8) | 27 (9) | 48 (15) |
| Heavy drinker (14+drinks/wk) | 39 (12) | 42 (13) | 26 (8) |
| Alcohol type preference (among drinkers) | |||
| Wine | 75 (23) | 74 (23) | 104 (33) |
| Beer | 74 (23) | 44 (14) | 50 (16) |
| Liquor | 39 (12) | 36 (11) | 30 (9) |
| No preference | 33 (10) | 48(15) | 48 (15) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 29.5 (0.3) | 28.9 (0.3) | 29.5 (0.3) |
1
Total responses for each exposure category may not equal total for the study group due to missing data for some questions.
2
The term ‘drink’ was defined as 1 glass for wine (4–5oz), 12oz for beer, and one shot (1¼) for liquor, all containing approximately 13g of ethanol. <7 drinks approximately equals to <91g ethanol/day, 7–13 to 91–181g ethanol/day, and 14+ to 182+g ethanol/day.