A Study of Prevalence of Gastroesophageal Reflux symptoms among Staff nurses involved in Night shifts in a Tertiary care hospital in Ariyur- A Cross Sectional Study.

Abstract Background Sleep deprivation may induce gastrointestinal disturbances and gastrointestinal symptoms may also lead to sleep derangements. Staff nurses in night shifts have high stress and burnouts. Objectives 1. To assess the prevalence of gastrointestinal Reflux symptoms among staff nurses involved in night shifts in a tertiary care centre in Puducherry. 2. To find association between reflux symptoms and sleep quality among the staff nurses in night shift. Material and methods The present study was cross sectional study carried out among staff nurses doing night shifts in a tertiary care centre in Puducherry for a period of 3 months. Participants with preexisting acid peptic disease, GI motility disorders, recent gastrointestinal surgeries, usage of analgesics at least once a month, pre-existing sleep disorders, pregnancy were excluded. The data was collected in a semi structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results Around 60% of the participants were found to have poor sleep quality. Around 14% had 89% chance of having GERD and 25% had 79% chance of GERD based on their symptoms. The regard to the association between GERD and sleep quality, those with poor sleep quality were found to have increased chance of experiencing GERD symptoms and the probability of GERD was also higher in them than those with good quality sleep according to PSQI. Conclusion Both Gastroesophageal reflex disease and Sleep quality were found to be positively associated with each other.