Primary care professionals can play a key role in the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) by carrying out patient lifestyle interventions, a report in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) suggests.According to researchers at Buckinghamshire New University in Middlesex and Kings College London, these interventions can improve patients' perception of their illness and reduce the amount of medicine used in treatment.The Buckinghamshire New University in Middlesex and Kings College London study gave GORD sufferers 1.5 hour educational sessions each week, encouraging them to look at their diet, learn about managing stress and to set goals for themselves in managing GORD-related problems.The study reports: “Following the intervention, patients felt more in control, believed that their treatment could help them, experienced fewer symptoms, were less concerned about their illness and had a greater understanding of and were less affected by their reflux than before the intervention."

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) affects between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the population in the western world and 32 million prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were issued in 2008 in the UK at a cost of £220 million a year.Download the full report here