GERD symptoms were significantly associated with poor sleep quality among Peruvian medical students, with a dose-response relationship such that each one-point increase in GERD symptom score increased the prevalence of poor sleep quality by 1.0%.
The prevalence of poor sleep quality among medical students was 84.8%.
The prevalence of GERD symptom burden among medical students was 76.6%.
Students with GERD symptom burden had a significantly higher prevalence of poor sleep quality compared to those without GERD.
A dose-response relationship was observed between GERD symptom score and poor sleep quality.
The study provides context-specific evidence from an understudied Latin American medical student population with adjusted confounding control.
This research suggests that among medical students at a private university in Lima, Peru, both poor sleep and acid reflux symptoms are extremely common — more than 8 in 10 students had poor sleep quality, and more than 3 in 4 had a meaningful burden of gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) symptoms. Students who experienced GERD symptoms were about 27% more likely to have poor sleep quality compared to those without GERD symptoms, even after accounting for other factors that might explain the relationship. The study also found a dose-response pattern: the worse a student's GERD symptoms were, the higher their likelihood of poor sleep. This graded relationship strengthens the case that these two conditions are meaningfully connected, potentially through mechanisms such as acid irritation disrupting sleep or shared lifestyle and stress factors common in medical training. This research suggests that addressing both sleep problems and acid reflux together — rather than treating them as separate issues — may be important for the health and academic performance of medical students. The authors highlight that medical schools and healthcare providers working with student populations could consider screening for both conditions simultaneously and developing early intervention programs, particularly in Latin American contexts where this type of research has been limited.
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Upload Your LabsMontalvo-Peralta A, Miranda-Sagastegui Y, Tinco-Pumacahua F, Soriano-Moreno D. (2026). Gastroesophageal reflux symptoms and sleep quality among medical students at a private university in Lima, Peru: A cross-sectional study.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348891