--People with asthma often have gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), but
typical symptoms such as frequent heartburn may be absent, according to Finnish
doctors.
Dr. Toni O. Kiljander and Dr. Jukka O. Laitinen from Tampere University
Hospital investigated the prevalence of GERD among 90 adults selected from a
database of 2225 asthmatic patients.
The team measured acidity in the esophagus to document abnormal gastric acid
reflux. They found that 32 of the participants had high esophageal acidity, but
only 24 of them had symptoms that typically signal gastric acid reflux disease.
On the other hand, 47 the 90 patients said they did have typical GERD
symptoms, but only half of these had acid reflux when they were monitored, the
researchers report in the medical journal Chest.
"GERD is common in adult asthmatics and may be present even without heartburn
and regurgitation in these patients," Kiljander told Reuters Health. "However,
the presence of heartburn does not always seem to guarantee the presence of
acidic reflux in these patients."
The investigator noted that asthma itself and some medicines commonly used
for treating asthma may promote gastric acid reflux, "and therefore at least
partly explain the high prevalence of GERD among asthmatics." So, the question
of whether GERD triggers asthma "remains to be solved."
Even so, asthma patients with acid reflux may find it worthwhile to try
medications that suppress stomach acid production -- so-called proton pump
inhibitors, such as Prevacid or Nexium, for example. "There is evidence from the
previous studies that at least some asthmatics with GERD appear to benefit from
proton pump inhibitor treatment," Kiljander concluded.
