title: Association of asthma with gastroesophageal reflux disease in children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective in this study was to assess the association of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) with asthma in pediatric patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six pediatric patients who were diagnosed as having bronchial asthma were included in the study. The male-to-female ratio was 2 to 1. The diagnosis of GER was made by 24-hour pH monitoring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  GER was present in 27 of 36 (75%) patients, of whom 19 (70%) were male and 8 (30%) were female patients. The GER frequency was found to be different between the supine and upright positions (p < 0.05). GER was more frequent in the upright position. However, duration of GER was longer in the supine position than the upright position (p < 0.05). Overall reflux duration was similar in both positions (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Demonstration of the relationship between asthma and GER suggests that GER is involved substantially in the pathogenesis and/or symptomatology of asthma. The patients with asthma should be evaluated for the presence of GER even in the absence of GER-related symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ay
authors.forename: Ercan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sivasli
authors.forename: Ziya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bayraktaroglu
authors.forename: Haluk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ceylan
authors.forename: Yavuz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coskun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male