For 500,000 people in the city, the cause is not heart trouble but a bad diet, a study claims
Some 500,000 people in Hong Kong suffer chest pain because of eating habits rather than heart disease, it was revealed yesterday.
A study by gastroenterologists at the University of Hong Kong estimated that 1.36 million people in the city had suffered chest pain in the past year. But 70 per cent of these did not have heart disease.
Most non-cardiac chest pain is instead caused by gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, or Gerd, where contents of the stomach go back up into the oesophagus resulting in heartburn and acid regurgitation, said Benjamin Wong Chun-yu, associate professor at the department of medicine. He estimated half a million people in the city suffered from Gerd.
The disease is more prevalent in men than in women. In more than half the instances, the cases are mild, with most episodes occurring once a month. Risk factors include obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, stress and poor eating patterns.
'Habits including overeating, eating irritating food, alcohol and having midnight snacks [are bad] because if you sleep or lie down shortly after eating the stomach and the oesophagus will be on a horizontal line that will promote reflux,' Professor Wong said.