Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Examine the association between healthy lifestyle behaviors (smoking, optimal sleep, high-intensity physical activity, and moderate alcohol consumption) and the risk of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank. Four healthy lifestyle behaviors were assessed at baseline. Participants were followed for 14.2 years until September 15, 2024, and GERD incidence was recorded. Multi variable-adjusted Cox models estimated HRs and 95 % CIs for the association between healthy behaviors and GERD risk. RESULTS: Among 108,239 participants, 8143 (7.5 %) developed GERD during follow-up. Distribution of healthy lifestyle behaviors was: 14.5 % reported none, 38.6 % reported one, 34.1 % reported two, and 12.7 % reported three to four behaviors. Participants with more behaviors had progressively lower GERD risks, with HRs of 0.92 (95 % CI 0.86, 0.98), 0.82 (0.77, 0.87), and 0.68 (0.63, 0.75), respectively (P for trend <0.01). Never smoking (HR: 0.84; 95 % CI: 0.81, 0.88), high physical activity (0.86; 0.83, 0.90), and optimal sleep (0.70; 0.65, 0.74) were independently associated with reduced GERD risk. CONCLUSIONS: Adopting multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors significantly reduces GERD risk, emphasizing the importance of lifestyle modifications in GERD prevention.