MedDRA preferred term · acid reflux

Gastrooesophageal reflux disease: adverse event reports recording this term

78,830 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0.4% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

78,830
reports recording the term: 0.4% of all reports; 5,269
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 4,600 in the 12 months before; 62.4%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 4.3%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

78,830 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Gastrooesophageal reflux disease" (in plain words, acid reflux): 0.4% of all reports received between January 2004 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

5,269 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, up 15% from 4,600 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 62.4% are marked serious, 4.3% include death among the outcomes and 29.6% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Nexium, Prilosec and Fosamax. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Nexium	Proton pump inhibitor	9,132	10.7%
Prilosec	Proton pump inhibitor	3,310	7.8%
Fosamax	Bisphosphonate	3,127	9%
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	3,054	1.7%
Omeprazole	Proton pump inhibitor	2,665	4.4%
Pantoprazole sodium	Proton pump inhibitor	2,591	5.9%
Humira	—	2,534	0.4%
Pantoprazole	Proton pump inhibitor	2,124	4.7%
Prevacid	Proton pump inhibitor	1,987	4.9%
Nexium 24HR	Proton pump inhibitor	1,829	6.6%
Enbrel	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	1,759	0.3%
Benicar	Angiotensin 2 receptor blocker	1,736	20.7%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	1,680	0.8%
Prilosec OTC	Proton pump inhibitor	1,600	6.5%
Alendronate sodium	Bisphosphonate	1,590	8.8%
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	1,471	0.9%
Cosentyx	Interleukin-17A antagonist	1,420	0.9%
Xeljanz	Janus kinase inhibitor	1,361	0.9%
Benicar HCT	Thiazide diuretic	1,316	26.3%
Vioxx	—	1,301	3.4%
Ergocalciferol	Provitamin D2 compound	1,212	12%
Aimovig	—	1,174	2.3%
Leflunomide	Antirheumatic agent	1,155	3.1%
Nucala	Interleukin-5 antagonist	1,152	3.8%
Prevacid 24 HR	Proton pump inhibitor	1,143	5.7%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.4% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Proton pump inhibitor	30,453	6.3%	5.3%
Corticosteroid	13,732	1.7%	0.6%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	7,950	1.4%	0.2%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	7,927	0.7%	0.8%
Bisphosphonate	5,792	6%	3.8%
Opioid agonist	5,340	0.6%	0.2%
GLP-1 receptor agonist	4,345	1.1%	1.3%
Angiotensin 2 receptor blocker	4,085	1.7%	0.3%
Kinase inhibitor	3,964	0.5%	0.2%
Janus kinase inhibitor	2,489	0.8%	0.3%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20.8%613

2 to 110.5%412

12 to 170.6%454

18 to 4411.6%9,118

45 to 6426.8%21,098

65 to 7413.2%10,391

75 and over8.1%6,354

Age not given38.6%30,390

Patient sex

Female62.5%49,295

Male27.2%21,412

Not given10.3%8,123

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 76% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Gastrooesophageal reflux disease"

What does "Gastrooesophageal reflux disease" mean in an adverse event report?

In plain language: acid reflux. It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record gastrooesophageal reflux disease?

78,830 reports through June 2026 (0.4% of all reports), 5,269 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Nexium (9,132), Prilosec (3,310), Fosamax (3,127), Prednisone (3,054) and Omeprazole (2,665). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.