OBJECTIVES: GERD is associated with obesity, age and gender in several studies. The GERD impact scale is a validated one-page self-administered questionnaire that asks patients about GERD symptoms and its impact in their lives.We aimed to describe if there are some differences in frequency and impact of GERD symptoms in their lives depending on gender, age and body mass index (BMI) measured by GIS. METHODS: The data evaluated in this cross-sectional study were recorded by 1170 primary care physicians, randomly distributed across the country, from 5735, new or previously diagnosed GERD patients who consulted about GERD symptoms in Primary Care Setting. The patients filled the GIS questionnaire at the doctors´ office in the study visit.  Data regarding sociodemographic variables, comorbidities co-medications, symtomps and treatment were collected  by the primary care physician during the study visit.The GIS results were scored, using a four-graded Likert scale, from 1(daily) to 4 (never) (the higher value the better is the patient) and the questionnaire was divided in three categories (upper GI symptoms, other acid related GI symptoms and impact of symptoms).  Comparisons between the global GIS index and each of the dimensions were performed with an ANCOVA model, adjusting for the confusing variables: gender (male/female), BMI (under or over 30 kg/m²) and age (under or over 50 years old). RESULTS: The global GIS mean score in the 5735 patients was 2.8. The adjusted-mean was higher in the female (2.82) versus male (2.77)  gender (p=0.0119) and in the non-obese (2.83) versus obese (2.75) patients (p<0,0001). There were no differences in the adjusted-mean depending on age (p=0.0568). The female patients had a higher score in the adjusted-means of “other acid related GI symptoms” (p=0.0163) and “impact of symptoms” (p=0,01) categories but not in the “upper GI symptoms” (p=0.0746). The age was only associated with “other acid related symptoms” category. The adjusted-mean score  in this category was higher in patients under 50 years old (p=0.0132). The obesity was associated with lower scores in the three categories (p=0.0085, p=0.0016 and p<0.0001 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The use of the self-administered GIS tool in patients who consulted in the PCS showed the GERD symptoms are more frequent and have more impact in male and obese patients, as previous population-based  studies have concluded. The age has an influence only in the frequency of a small proportion of symptoms and not in the impact of GERD in patients´ everyday lives.