Comorbidities are frequent in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease in a tertiary health care hospital

The associations of daily steps and body mass index with incident gastroesophageal reflux disease in older adults

Background

High body mass index (BMI) is a major risk factor of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a prevalent morbidity of older adulthood linked to lower quality of life and an increased risk of esophageal cancers. Daily stepping behavior, the most common physical activity of older adulthood, is associated with an array of favorable health outcomes, sometimes independent of high BMI. Whether stepping behavior is associated with the incidence of GERD independently or in combination with BMI is currently unclear.

Materials and methods

We followed 442 individuals (58.4% female) aged 65-91 years enrolled in the Physical Activity and Aging Study. Baseline steps were obtained by pedometer and categorized by tertiles (lower, middle, upper), while BMI was categorized into normal weight, overweight, and obesity. To explore joint associations, daily steps were dichotomized into "high steps" (middle/upper tertiles) and "low steps" (lower tertile), while BMI was dichotomized into normal weight and overweight/obesity. The joint exposure categories included "low steps and overweight/obesity," "low steps and normal weight," "high steps and overweight/obesity," and "high steps and normal weight."

Results

We identified 35 (7.9%) cases of GERD over a mean follow-up of 2.5 years. Compared to the lower tertile of steps, the hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence intervals (95% CIs)] of GERD were 0.44 (0.20-0.96) and 0.17 (0.05-0.54) for the middle and upper tertiles, respectively, after adjusting for confounders (including BMI). Compared to normal weight, the HRs (95% CIs) of GERD were 1.35 (0.54-3.37) and 3.00 (1.19-7.55) for overweight and obesity, respectively, after adjusting for confounders (including steps). In a joint analysis, compared to "low steps and overweight/obesity," the HRs (95% CIs) of GERD were 0.32 (0.10-1.00), 0.23 (0.10-0.54), and 0.20 (0.07-0.58) for "low steps and normal weight," "high steps and overweight/obesity," and "high steps and normal weight," respectively.

Conclusion

Higher daily steps were associated with a lower risk of GERD in older adults, independent of BMI. Since accumulating steps through walking is an achievable and acceptable modality of physical activity in older adulthood, future lifestyle interventions designed to achieve high daily steps counts may have favorable implications for the development of GERD in older adults of any BMI status.

Factors associated with gastrointestinal dysmotility in critically ill patients

Critical illness may disrupt nutritional, protective, immune, and endocrine functions of the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a state of gastrointestinal dysmotility. We aimed to identify factors associated with the occurrence of gastrointestinal dysmotility in critically ill patients. A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted, using patient files as a source of data. The study included 185 critically ill patients treated in the intensive care unit of the University Clinical Center, Kragujevac, Serbia, from January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2022. Significant risk factors associated with some form of gastrointestinal dysmotility were acute kidney injury (with paralytic ileus, nausea, vomiting, and constipation), recent abdominal surgery (with ileus, nausea, vomiting, and constipation), mechanical ventilation (with ileus, and nausea), age (with ileus and constipation), and use of certain medication such as opioids (with ileus, gastro-esophageal reflux, nausea, vomiting, and constipation), antidepressants (with ileus, nausea, and vomiting), and antidiabetics (with ileus). On the other hand, Charlson comorbidity index had divergent effects, depending on the form of gastrointestinal dysmotility: it increased the risk of gastro-esophageal reflux but protected against ileus, nausea, and vomiting. In clonclusion, recognition of factors associated with gastrointestinal dysmotility should initiate preventative measures and, thus, accelerate the recovery of critically ill.

A Long Duration of Reflux Symptoms is the Predominant Risk Factor for Depression in Vietnamese Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

PURPOSE

Depression is more prevalent in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) than in controls. The disorder can worsen the quality of life of GERD patients and is also associated with poor treatment response. However, there are limited data on its prevalence and risk factors in GERD patients in Southeast Asia. We aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of depression and its associated factors in Vietnamese patients with GERD.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on GERD patients. GERD was defined as troublesome typical reflux symptoms at least twice a week or having endoscopic erosive reflux disease. The revised Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI-IA), which has been locally validated, was used to evaluate depression (BDI-IA < 10: none, 10-18: mild to moderate, 19-29: moderate to severe, and ≥ 30: severe depression). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors associated with depression.

RESULTS

A total of 194 patients were recruited. The mean age was 44.1 ± 12.0 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.2. The depression rate was 47.9% (mild to moderate: 30.9%, moderate to severe: 16.0%, and severe: 1.0%). In multivariate analysis, sex and duration of reflux symptoms were the only two risk factors for depression. Compared to males, females were more likely to suffer from depression: odds ratio (OR) = 3.941 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.386-11.205), p = 0.010. Compared to patients with a duration of reflux symptoms < 1 year, those with a duration of 1-10 years and > 10 years were more likely to suffer from depression with a dose‒response: OR = 3.520 (95% CI, 1.057-11.717), p = 0.040; and OR = 5.605 (1.046-30.019), p = 0.044, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Depression was prevalent, and a long duration of reflux symptoms was its predominant risk factor in Vietnamese patients with GERD.

Heartburn Center Set-Up in a Community Setting: Engineering and Execution

Background: Optimal management of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) requires a concerted team of physicians rather than an individual approach. While an integrated approach to GERD has previously been proposed, the practical execution of such a "center of excellence" (COE) has not been described, particularly in a community setting. Ranging from initial consultation and diagnosis to surgical intervention for complex disease, such an approach is likely to provide optimal care and provide surveillance for patients with a complex disease process of GERD. Methods: We report our approach to implement an integrated heartburn center (HBC) and our experience with the first cohort of patients. Patients treated in the HBC were followed for 2 years from initial consultation to completion of their appropriate treatment plan, including anti-reflux surgery. The performance prior to the HBC set-up was compared to that post-HBC. Performance was measured in terms of volume of patients referred, referral patterns, length of stay (LOS), and patient health-related quality of life (HRQL) pre- and post-surgery. Results: Setting up the HBC resulted in referrals from multiple avenues, including primary care physicians (PCPs), emergency departments (EDs), and gastroenterologists (GIs). There was a 75% increase in referrals compared to pre-center patient volumes. Among the initial cohort of 832 patients presenting to the HBC, <10% had GERD for <1 year, ~60% had GERD for 1-11 years, and ~30% had GERD for ≥12 years. More than one-quarter had atypical GERD symptoms (27.6%). Only 6.4% had been on PPIs for <1 year and >20% had been on PPIs for ≥12 years. Thirty-eight patients were found to have Barrett's esophagus (4.6%) (up to 10 times the general population prevalence). Two patients had dysplasia. Seven patients (0.8%) received radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for Barrett's esophagus and two patients received endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for Barrett's esophagus-related dysplasia. The most common comorbidities were chronic pulmonary disease (16.8%) and diabetes without complications (10.6%). Patients received treatment for newly identified comorbid conditions, including early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) (n = 7; 0.8%). Fifty cases required consultation with various specialists (6.0%) and 34 of those (4.1%) resulted in changes in care. Despite the significant increase in patient referrals, conversion rates from diagnosis to anti-reflux surgery remained consistent at ~25%. Overall HRQL improved year-over-year, and LOS was significantly reduced with potential cost savings for the larger institution. Conclusions: While centralization of GERD care is known to improve outcomes, in this case study we demonstrated the clinical success and commercial viability of centralizing GERD care in a community setting. The integrated GERD service line center offered a comprehensive, multi-specialty, and coordinated patient-centered approach. The approach is reproducible and may allow hospitals to set up their own heartburn COEs, strengthening patient-community relationships and establishing scientific and clinical GERD leadership.

Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Management Update

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most frequent gastrointestinal disorders. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are effective in healing lesions and improving symptoms in most cases, although up to 40% of GERD patients do not respond adequately to PPI therapy. Refractory GERD (rGERD) is one of the most challenging problems, given its impact on the quality of life and consumption of health care resources. The definition of rGERD is a controversial topic as it has not been unequivocally established. Indeed, some patients unresponsive to PPIs who experience symptoms potentially related to GERD may not have GERD; in this case the definition could be replaced with “reflux-like PPI-refractory symptoms.” Patients with persistent reflux-like symptoms should undergo a diagnostic workup aimed at finding objective evidence of GERD through endoscopic and pH-impedance investigations. The management strategies regarding rGERD, apart from a careful check of patient's compliance with PPIs, a possible change in the timing of their administration and the choice of a PPI with a different metabolic pathway, include other pharmacologic treatments. These include histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs), alginates, antacids and mucosal protective agents, potassium competitive acid blockers (PCABs), prokinetics, gamma aminobutyric acid-B (GABA-B) receptor agonists and metabotropic glutamate receptor-5 (mGluR5) antagonists, and pain modulators. If there is no benefit from medical therapy, but there is objective evidence of GERD, invasive antireflux options should be evaluated after having carefully explained the risks and benefits to the patient. The most widely performed invasive antireflux option remains laparoscopic antireflux surgery (LARS), even if other, less invasive, interventions have been suggested in the last few decades, including endoscopic transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF), magnetic sphincter augmentation (LINX) or radiofrequency therapy (Stretta). Due to the different mechanisms underlying rGERD, the most effective strategy can vary, and it should be tailored to each patient. The aim of this paper is to review the different management options available to successfully deal with rGERD.

Clustering demographics and sequences of diagnosis codes

A Relational-Sequential dataset (or RS-dataset for short) contains records comprised of a patients values in demographic attributes and their sequence of diagnosis codes. The task of clustering an RS-dataset is helpful for analyses ranging from pattern mining to classification. However, existing methods are not appropriate to perform this task. Thus, we initiate a study of how an RS-dataset can be clustered effectively and efficiently. We formalize the task of clustering an RS-dataset as an optimization problem. At the heart of the problem is a distance measure we design to quantify the pairwise similarity between records of an RS-dataset. Our measure uses a tree structure that encodes hierarchical relationships between records, based on their demographics, as well as an edit-distance-like measure that captures both the sequentiality and the semantic similarity of diagnosis codes. We also develop an algorithm which first identifies k representative records (centers), for a given k, and then constructs clusters, each containing one center and the records that are closer to the center compared to other centers. Experiments using two Electronic Health Record datasets demonstrate that our algorithm constructs compact and well-separated clusters, which preserve meaningful relationships between demographics and sequences of diagnosis codes, while being efficient and scalable.

Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, prevalence and clinical characteristics in ENT department of a tertiary hospital Tanzania

Background

Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) is a condition with nonspecific symptoms and most of times patients present late with advanced disease which may predispose to malignancy. The magnitude and clinical characteristics of this condition are not well known among patients attending Otorhinolaryngology services in Tanzania.

Materials and methods

This was a hospital based descriptive cross sectional study, conducted in the wards and clinics of Otorhinolaryngology department of Muhimbili National Hospital. Patients with symptoms of Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease were included in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires and clinical examination forms, were processed and analysed by using SPSS. Results presented in frequency tables, cross tabulations and figures.

Results

This study recruited 256 participants among them males were 131(51.2%).The mean age was (41.38 ± 13.94) years. Prevalence of Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease was 18.4% without gender predilection. The commonest symptoms were globus sensation, hoarseness of voice and excessive urge to clear the throat with 95.7%, 88.1% and 83.0% respectively while the most observed signs were thick endolaryngeal mucus, Vocal cord oedema and partial ventricular obliteration with 90.9%, 88.6% and 72.7% respectively. Lying down less than two hours after meal and spices foods consumption were the leading risk factors. Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus type 2 were the most prevalent co morbid conditions associated with Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease.

Conclusion

The prevalence of Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease is high among patients attending Otorhinolaryngology services at Muhimbili national hospital. All patients with Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease related symptoms should get thorough evaluation for early diagnosis and treatment.

Association between Reflux Esophagitis Incidence and Palmar Hyperhidrosis

The autonomic dysfunction in palmar hyperhidrosis (PH) includes not only sympathetic overactivity but also parasympathetic impairment. A decrease of parasympathetic tone has been noted in gastroesophageal reflux disease of neonates and adults. Patients with reflux esophagitis have a defective anti-reflux barrier. The association between reflux esophagitis and PH is deliberated in this article. The National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan was used. At first-time visits, PH patients were identified by the International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification disease code of 780.8 without endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy. Patients were matched by age and gender as control groups. The reflux esophagitis incidence was assessed using disease codes 530.11, 530.81, and 530.85. The factors related to reflux esophagitis were established by the Cox proportional regression model. The risk of reflux esophagitis in PH patients had a hazard ratio of 3.457 (95% confidence interval: 3.043-3.928) after adjustment of the other factors. We confirmed the association between reflux esophagitis and PH. Health care providers must be alerted to this relationship and other risk factors of reflux esophagitis to support suitable treatments to improve the quality of life of patients.

Refractory Heartburn: A Challenging Problem in Clinical Practice

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition which develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications. Heartburn and regurgitation are the typical symptoms of GERD. The treatment of GERD encompasses lifestyle modifications, pharmacological, endoscopic, and surgical therapy. The majority of the patients respond to 4-8 weeks of proton-pump inhibitors therapy, but 20-42% will demonstrate partial or complete lack of response to treatment. While these patients have been considered as having refractory heartburn, a subset of them does not have GERD or have not been adequately treated. The main causes of refractory heartburn include: poor compliance; inadequate proton-pump inhibitors dosage; incorrect diagnosis; comorbidities; genotypic differences; residual gastroesophageal reflux; eosinophilic esophagitis and others. Treatment is commonly directed toward the underlying cause of patients' refractory heartburn.

Patients with Cerebral Stroke Have an Increased Risk of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Population-Based Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Medical complications following stroke often result in significant morbidity. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence and risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) between patients with stroke and those without stroke in Taiwan.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study included 18,412 patients newly diagnosed as having stroke during 2000-2006 and 18,412 patients without stroke frequency-matched by sex, age, and index year. All patients were followed from the index date to December 31, 2011. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the GERD risk. The GERD risk was approximately 1.51-times higher in the stroke group than in the nonstroke group, after adjustment for age, sex, and the cumulative incidence of some comorbidities. GERD was positively associated with stroke; the male sex (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.31); an age of 65 years or older (adjusted HR = 1.11); hyperlipidemia (adjusted HR = 1.14); ischemic heart disease (adjusted HR = 1.27); renal disease (adjusted HR = 1.45); and use of aspirin (adjusted HR = 2.34), clopidogrel (adjusted HR = 1.41), and dipyridamole (adjusted HR = 1.30).

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicates a significantly higher GERD risk in patients with stroke than in the nonstroke group. In clinical practice, neurologists should focus on the risk of GERD symptoms.

Risk of GERD with Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension and Bronchial Asthma - A Hospital based Retrospective Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

The rise in Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) prevalence appears to have coincided with a simultaneous increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and bronchial asthma amongst the Indian population. Despite being evaluated extensively for their role as a risk factor for GERD, till date this relationship has remained a debatable one. Moreover, literature available on such studies conducted within Indian population remains scarce.

AIM

The aim of the present study was to examine the risk of developing GERD in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension and asthma in a Southern Indian population. The present retrospective, triple cohort and hospital based study was conducted by accessing the patient records from the medical records department of a tertiary care hospital in Southern India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The patient's records were accessed from the year 2011 onwards. Relative Risk (RR) was calculated to determine the risk of development of GERD with every disease. Chi-square test was used to determine the statistical significance of the relationship between each disease and the development of GERD. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

In view of the time constraints as well as the limitations of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data pertaining to only 40, 71 and 53 patients in Cohort 1 (diabetics), 2 (hypertensives) and 3 (bronchial asthmatics) respectively could be analyzed in the present study. The relative risk of GERD development was greater than 1 for patients belonging to Cohort 2 and 3, suggesting that the risk of GERD development is higher amongst hypertensives and asthmatics. Surprisingly, the diabetics (Cohort 1) were not associated with a high risk of GERD development. However, the relationship between any of the disease and GERD development was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

The present study found an increased risk of GERD development amongst patients suffering from hypertension and bronchial asthma, but not with diabetes mellitus.

Increased risk of concurrent gastroesophageal reflux disease among patients with Sjögren's syndrome: A nationwide population-based study

BACKGROUND

Little data is available on the risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome.

METHODS

We identified 4650 Sjögren's syndrome patients between 2000 and 2011 from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Each Sjögren's syndrome patient was matched to 4 controls based on age, sex, and index year, and all subjects were followed up from the index date to December 31, 2011. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease.

RESULTS

The risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease for Sjögren's syndrome patients was 2.41-fold greater than that for the comparison cohort after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities. In age stratified analyses, the youngest Sjögren's syndrome cohort (age: 20-44years old) had the highest risk (HR=3.02; 95% CI=2.48-3.69) and the lowest risk at age ≥65years (HR=1.95; 95% CI=1.61-2.36). Regardless of in subjects with and without comorbidity, Sjögren's syndrome patients had a higher risk than the controls. Sjögren's syndrome subjects with ischemic heart disease, hyperlipidemia and renal disease had the highest risk for gastroesophageal reflux disease compared with the comparison cohort without those diseases (HR=7.67; 95% CI=5.32-11.1).

CONCLUSION

Patients with Sjögren's syndrome have a significantly greater risk of developing subsequent gastroesophageal reflux disease than the general population.

Risk of psychiatric disorders following gastroesophageal reflux disease: a nationwide population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have shown that the peripheral inflammation may cause the up-regulation of central nervous system inflammation and therefore possibly plays a vital role in the pathophysiology of subsequent psychiatric disorders.

OBJECTIVE

We explored the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and the subsequent development of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia as well as bipolar, depressive, anxiety, and sleep disorders.

METHODS

We investigated patients who were diagnosed with GERD according to the data in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A comparison cohort comprised patients without GERD who were matched according to age and sex. The incidence rate and the hazard ratios (HRs) of subsequent new-onset psychiatric disorders were calculated for both cohorts, based on the diagnoses of psychiatrists.

RESULTS

The GERD cohort consisted of 3813 patients, and the comparison cohort comprised 15,252 matched control patients without GERD. The risks of depressive disorder (HR=3.37, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.49-4.57), anxiety disorder (HR=2.99, 95% CI=2.12-4.22), and sleep disorder (HR=2.69, 95% CI=1.83-3.94), were higher in the GERD cohort than in the comparison cohort. In addition, the incidence of newly diagnosed depressive, anxiety, and sleep disorders remained significantly increased in all of the stratified follow-up durations (0-1, ≥1year).

CONCLUSIONS

GERD may increase the risks of subsequent depressive, anxiety, and sleep disorders. These psychiatric disorders have a negative effect on people's quality of life. Clinicians should pay a particular attention to psychiatric comorbidities in GERD patients.

Association between diabetes mellitus and gastroesophageal reflux disease: A meta-analysis

AIM: To investigate whether there is a link between diabetes mellitus (DM) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed and Web of Science databases, from their respective inceptions until December 31, 2013, for articles evaluating the relationship between DM and GERD. Studies were selected for analysis based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted from each study on the basis of predefined items. A meta-analysis was performed to compare the odds ratio (OR) in DM between individuals with and without GERD using a fixed effect or random effect model, depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses were used to identify sources of heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by Begg’s test. To evaluate the results, we also performed a sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS: When the electronic database and hand searches were combined, a total of nine eligible articles involving 9067 cases and 81 968 controls were included in our meta-analysis. Based on the random-effects model, these studies identified a significant association between DM and the risk of GERD (overall OR = 1.61; 95%CI: 1.36-1.91; P = 0.003). Subgroup analyses indicated that this result persisted in studies on populations from Eastern countries (OR = 1.71; 95%CI: 1.38-2.12; P = 0.003) and in younger patients (mean age < 50 years) (OR = 1.70; 95%CI: 1.22-2.37; P = 0.001). No significant publication bias was observed in this meta-analysis using Begg^’s test (P = 0.175). The sensitivity analysis also confirmed the stability of our results.

CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggests that patients with DM are at greater risk of GERD than those who do not have DM.

Noncompliance is an impact factor in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease

The basis of pharmacological treatment of the gastroesophageal reflux disease is the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) which provide effective gastric acid secretion blockade. However, PPI therapy failure may occur in up to 42% of patients. The main causes for therapeutic failure are non-acid or weakly acid reflux, genotypic differences, presence of comorbidities, wrong diagnosis and lack of treatment compliance. Noncompliance is an important issue and should be carefully observed. Several studies addressed patient compliance and 20-50% of patients may present lack of compliance to the PPI prescribed. When symptoms persist depite adherence has been confirmed, it is recommended to substitute the prescribed PPI to another of the same class or alternatively, prescription of a double dose of the same drug. When even so the symptoms persist, other causes of failure should be assigned. In particular cases of PPI failure, fundoplication surgery may be indicated.

Refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease

CONTEXT

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition which develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications. Its pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment have frequently been analyzed but it is interesting to review some aspects of the GERD refractory patients to the proton pump inhibitors treatment. The treatment encompasses behavioral measures and pharmacological therapy. The majority of the patients respond well to proton pump inhibitors treatment but 20%-42% of them may not do so well. Patients who are unresponsible to 4-8 weeks' treatment with proton pump inhibitors (omeprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole, lansoprazole, esomeprazole, pantoprazole-Mg) might have so-called refractory GERD.

RESULTS

In some cases the patients are not real refractory because either they do not have GERD or the disease was not correctly treated, but the term refractory is still employed. Although debatable, the Brazilian GERD Consensus based upon evidences recommends as first step in the diagnosis, the upper digestive endoscopy to exclude the diagnosis of peptic ulcer and cancer and in some cases identify the presence of esophageal mucosa erosions.

CONCLUSIONS

The main causes of the so-called refractory GERD are: (1) functional heartburn; (2) low levels of adherence to proton pump inhibitors treatment; (3) inadequate proton pump inhibitors dosage; (4) wrong diagnosis; (5) co-morbidities and pill-induced esophagitis; (6) genotypic differences; (7) nonacid gastroesophageal reflux; (8) autoimmune skin diseases; (9) eosinophilic esophagitis.

Eosinophilic esophagitis in patients with typical gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms refractory to proton pump inhibitor

BACKGROUND

TREATMEN The contribution of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) to refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) remains unknown. When EoE and GERD overlap, the clinical, endoscopic and histological findings are nonspecific and cannot be used to distinguish between the two disorders. Limited data are available on this topic, and the interaction between EoE and GERD is a matter of debate.

AIM

We have conducted a prospective study of adult patients with refractory GERD to evaluate the overlap of reflux and EoE.

METHODS

Between July 2006 and June 2008, we consecutively and prospectively enrolled 130 male and female patients aged 18 to 70 years old who experienced persistent heartburn and/or regurgitation more than twice a week over the last 30 days while undergoing at least six consecutive weeks of omeprazole treatment (at least 40 mg once a day). The patients underwent an upper digestive endoscopy with esophageal biopsy, and intraepithelial eosinophils were counted after hematoxylin/eosin staining. The diagnosis of EoE was based on the presence of 20 or more eosinophils per high-power field (eo/HPF) in esophageal biopsies.

RESULTS

Among the 103 studied patients, 79 (76.7%) were females. The patients had a mean age of 45.5 years and a median age of 47 years. Endoscopy was normal in 83.5% of patients, and erosive esophagitis was found in 12.6%. Only one patient presented lesions suggestive of EoE. Histological examination revealed >20 eo/HPF in this patient.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrated a low prevalence of EoE among patients with refractory GERD undergoing omeprazole treatment.

Exertional esophageal pH-metry and manometry in recurrent chest pain

AIM: To investigate the diagnostic efficacy of 24-h and exertional esophageal pH-metry and manometry in patients with recurrent chest pain.

METHODS: The study included 111 patients (54% male) with recurrent angina-like chest pain, non-responsive to therapy with proton pump inhibitors. Sixty-five (59%) had non-obstructive lesions in coronary artery angiography, and in 46 (41%) significant coronary artery narrowing was found. In all patients, 24-h esophageal pH-metry and manometry, and treadmill stress tests with simultaneous esophageal pH-metry and manometry monitoring were performed. During a 24-h examination the percentage of spontaneous chest pain (sCP) episodes associated with acid reflux or dysmotility (symptom index, SI) was calculated. Patients with SI > 50% for acid gastroesophageal reflux (GER) were classified as having GER-related sCP. The remaining symptomatic individuals were determined as having non-GER-related sCP. During the stress test, the occurrence of chest pain, episodes of esophageal acidification (pH < 4 for 10 s) and esophageal spasm with more than 55% of simultaneous contractions (exercise-provoked esophageal spasm or EPES) were noted.

RESULTS: Sixty-eight (61%) individuals reported sCP during 24-h esophageal function monitoring. Eleven of these (16%) were classified as having GER-related sCP and 53/68 (84%) as having non-GER-related sCP. The exercise-provoked chest pain during a stress test occurred in 13/111 (12%) subjects. In order to compare the clinical usefulness of 24-h esophageal function monitoring and its examination limited only to the treadmill stress test, the standard parameters of diagnostic test evaluation were determined. The occurrence of GER-related or non-GER-related sCP was assumed as a “gold standard”. Afterwards, accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were calculated. These parameters expressed a prediction of GER-related or non-GER-related sCP occurrence by the presence of chest pain, esophageal acidification and EPES. Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of chest pain during the stress test predicting any sCP occurrence were 28%, 35% and 80%, respectively, predicting GER-related sCP were 42%, 0% and 83%, respectively, and predicting non-GER-related sCP were 57%, 36% and 83%, respectively. Similar values were obtained for exercise-related acidification with pH < 4 longer than 10 s in the prediction of GER-related sCP (44%, 36% and 92%, respectively) and EPES in relation to non-GER-related sCP (48%, 23% and 84%, respectively).

CONCLUSION: The presence of chest pain, esophageal acidification and EPES had greater than 80% specificity to exclude the GER-related and non-GER-related causes of recurrent chest pain.