Case-control studyindependent cross-checkabstract checked I-GUT-107 in-depth review

Going to bed soon after dinner linked to reflux

Association between dinner-to-bed time and gastro-esophageal reflux disease.

Overview

Fujiwara Y et al.. Am J Gastroenterol 2005 · PMID 16393212 · DOI 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2005.00354.x

People with reflux disease more often went to bed less than 3 hours after dinner than people without reflux.

Does the study support the specific claim? No · Methodological quality: low

Study explained simply

What did the researchers want to find out?: Check if dinner-to-bed time relates to reflux.
How was the study done?: Case-control study.
How many people, animals or samples were studied?: 147 patients, 294 controls in Japan.
What was actually found?: Less than 3 hours was linked with 7-fold higher odds.
How large was the observed effect?: OR 7.45 (3.38-16.4).
What do the results mean in everyday life?: People with reflux may do better leaving a gap before lying down.
What are the study's limitations?: Association only; recall bias.
What does it say about Elawady's specific claim?: Limits the claim that lying down after eating is never a problem.
Do the results apply to Germany and Europe?: Habit data from Japan.
What can explicitly not be concluded from this study?: Cannot prove that lying down after meals causes reflux in healthy people.

Authors: Fujiwara Y et al.
Journal: Am J Gastroenterol
Year: 2005
Identifier: PMID 16393212 DOI 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2005.00354.x
Verification: verified – PubMed efetch 2026-10-26 + Crossref 2026-10-26
Retracted: no
Corrections: none
Extent checked: abstract only
Conflicts of interest and funding: Non-US government support (PubMed); COI not stated in abstract

Is a short dinner-to-bed time associated with GERD?

Study design: Case-control study – Matched case-control study
Population: 147 GERD patients and 294 age- and sex-matched controls without reflux symptoms, Japan
Country: Japan
Period: Published 2005
Sample size: 441
Inclusion and exclusion criteria: Controls without heartburn/regurgitation in the previous year

Exposure / intervention: Dinner-to-bed time <3 h
Comparator: >=4 h
Endpoints: GERD (erosive and non-erosive)
Statistical methods: Logistic regression adjusted for smoking, drinking and BMI

Results: Dinner-to-bed time <3 h vs >=4 h: OR 7.45 (3.38-16.4) for GERD; consistent in non-erosive and erosive disease.
Absolute risks: Not reported
Authors' conclusion: Shorter dinner-to-bed time was associated with increased odds of GERD.

OR CI log-symmetric (stats/C-GUT-04_07_08_misc.py); very large OR suggests bias may contribute.

Supports guideline advice to leave 2-3 hours between the last meal and lying down.

Does not show harm in people without reflux.

Japanese population; habits differ.

Consistent with RCT evidence on late meals; weak alone.

Multidimensional assessment
Multidimensional assessment
Authenticity of the source	verified
Methodological quality	low
Risk of bias	high
Precision of results	low
Directness	direct
Reproducibility	partly replicated
Consistency with the overall evidence	consistent
Regional transferability	moderate
Adequacy of the interpretation (by the archive)	not applicable

Causal direction.