Table 1

Characteristics of subjects by reflux symptom status

	Reflux symptoms at least once a week for 1 y or more
	Yes	No
n	135	685
Median age (y)	70	68
Mean age (y)	66	66
No of males (%)	118 (87%)	561 (82%)
Ever tobacco smokers^1-150	83 (61%)	412 (60%)
High alcohol consumption^1-151	26 (19%)	152 (22%)

↵1-150 Tobacco smoking status included cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking and the status two years before the interview was assessed.
↵1-151 High alcohol consumption was defined as more than 70 g of pure alcohol per week.