To ascertain the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in elderly people attending to family medicine clinics. the study was conducted by using a prospective design in which participants were randomly selected from a family medicine clinic located in Mexico City. The study was run from August to September 2003, and included patients aged sixty years or older, regardless of gender. They should not have cognitive damage, which was ascertained by the Folstein Mini Mental State Examination. Those patients that did not accept to participate and those having incomplete or illegible medical records were excluded. The socio-demographic characteristics test and Carlsson-Dent test were applied. The information about diagnosis, drugs prescriptions, and pharmacological and no pharmacological gastroesophageal protection was obtained from the medical charts and prescriptions. 400 elderly patients were evaluated by using the Carlsson-Dent test. GERD prevalence was 25% (CI 95% 21-29) the average age of patients with and without GERD was 68 +/- 7 years and 70 +/- 7 years respectively (p = .002). Women suffered GERD more frequently than men (p = 0.001). GERD diagnosis was not found in any of the reviewed medical charts. Antacids, histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2 As) and prokinetics were prescribed in 39% (CI 95% 34-44) of patients with GERD and in 18% (CI 95% 15-21) without GERD. Elderly patients attending to primary care facilities often have GERD symptoms, but they are not properly diagnosed or followed up. The Carlsson-Dent questionnaire is an alternative to identify GERD patients.