title: Empiric treatment of children with gastroesophageal reflux-like symptoms: Effect of proton pump inhibitors.
abstract: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is an important cause of morbidity in childhood. Although various diagnostic methods are available, short course of empiric treatment with a proton pump inhibitor is widely used in adults as a diagnostic test. Data about empiric treatment is scarce in children. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of empiric treatment of reflux-like symptoms in children. Pediatric gastroenterology outpatient files were searched and patients with a diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux were found. Patient complaints, history and the treatments provided were recorded. Treatment naive patients older than 2 years of age with symptoms suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux were selected and included if they were given empiric treatment with a proton pump inhibitor. Empiric treatment was found to be effective in 78% of patients. Treatment response tended to be better in children older than 5 years of age. Of the 22 non-responders 9 underwent endoscopy and pathological findings were discovered in 7 of them. Treatment of children with gastroesophageal reflux symptoms with a proton pump inhibitor might significantly decrease the need for extensive evaluations. However it is important to investigate non-responders to empiric therapy, as it seems there might be high probability of pathological findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey. gbaysoy@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gündüz
authors.forename: Pınar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yamaç
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baysoy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors