Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Treatment of GERD

How do you make a determination to treat for GER in patients with asthma?

There is some data available saying that treatment may reduce exacerbations and improve quality of life...

Littner MR, Leung FW, Ballard ED 2nd, Huang B, Samra NK; Lansoprazole Asthma Study Group.
Effects of 24 weeks of lansoprazole therapy on asthma symptoms, exacerbations, quality of life, and pulmonary function in adult asthmatic patients with acid reflux symptoms.
Chest. 2005 Sep;128(3):1128-35.
PMID: 16162697 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2 comments - CLICK HERE to read & add your own!:

Jennings said...

I didnt read that study; I am not sure of the relavency; if you have GERD it should be treated, whether or not it exacerbates the asthma. And whether it worsens the asthma or not would not change the fact that if they have GERD you give 40 mg of omeprazole.
That study would be interesting on the other hand if it reduced asthma symptoms in patients WITHOUT gerd....

Baleeiro said...

On a side note, there is also a high prevalence of asymptomatic GERD (when compared to pH probes and EGD results) and GERD is a highly prevalent condition in asthma patients.
Calabrese et al (World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Dec 28;11(48):7657-60) have a similar trial where asthma symptoms improved with Tx (though they used 80mg/day of Protonix).