A diagnosis of GERD needs to be confirmed with 24-hour pH monitoring, so the KNHANES data could not show accurately the prevalence or clinical impact of this condition. However, GERD has been reported to be the 3rd most common cause of chronic cough and its frequency is estimated to be 10% to 21%. Otorhinolaryngologic examinations cannot completely replace pH monitoring for diagnosing GERD; however, we used reflux laryngitis as a clue for determining the presence of GERD. Surprizingly, the prevalence of chronic laryngitis was low (4.1% ± 1.6%) and not significantly different from the prevalence in the population without chronic cough (2.7% ± 0.3%). This may imply the fact that GERD-related cough may not be prevalent in the Korean population. Alternatively, the prevalence of GERD in Asian patients may be different from that in previous reports on Western patients with chronic cough. Our data may highlight a need for different algorithms to establish the etiology of chronic cough in different races.