Association of asthma with gastroesophageal reflux disease in children.
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.
Ay
Mustafa
M
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey.
Sivasli
Ercan
E
Bayraktaroglu
Ziya
Z
Ceylan
Haluk
H
Coskun
Yavuz
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male