Abstract :Background: Many children with respiratory symptoms such as wheezing and chronic cough have gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, a causal relationship of these diseases has yet to be corroborated.
Methods: Thirty-eight children (aged>24 months) with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux and/or wheezing and cough were enrolled in this study. Patients underwent pH-impedance monitoring and recording of lung sounds (WHolter®). Results: The median number of cough events associated with weakly acid reflux in the group of patients with positive impedance monitoring was significantly higher than the median of cough associated with weakly acid and non-acid reflux in the group of patients with negative impedance monitoring (p = 0.003). The median number of events of wheezing =5% associated with an episode of acid reflux was significantly higher (p = 0.008) in the group of patients with positive 24-hr pH monitoring than those with negative 24-hr pH monitoring.
Conclusion: In conclusion, we found a relationship between gastroesophageal reflux and respiratory symptoms: wheezing was associated mainly with acid reflux, whereas coughing was associated with weakly acid reflux.