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Updated: May 31, 2026
06:46
Simultaneous Laryngopharyngeal and Conventional Esophageal pH Monitoring
Published on: December 14, 2020
Time to stop blaming gastroesophageal reflux.
Jose M Garza1, Cade M Nylund, Ajay Kaul
1Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, OH, USA. jose.garza@cchmc.org
Clinical Pediatrics
|June 21, 2011
Summary
Most infant symptoms like cough and pain are not caused by gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Even when reflux occurs, nonacid reflux is as likely as acid reflux to cause these symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Infant Health
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
Background:
- Infant symptoms such as cough, pain, and desaturation are frequently attributed to gastroesophageal reflux (GER).
- Empirical treatment with acid suppression medications is common for these presumed GER-related symptoms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between extra-esophageal symptoms in infants and reflux events.
- To determine if acid suppression is the appropriate treatment for these symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 186 combined pH-multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII) studies in infants.
- Analysis of 4159 reported symptoms and their correlation with acid and nonacid reflux events.
Main Results:
- Only 36% of reported infant symptoms were associated with any reflux event.
- Nonacid reflux events were as likely to be associated with a symptom as acid reflux events (P = .66).
Conclusions:
- Extra-esophageal symptoms in infants are often not associated with gastroesophageal reflux.
- When symptoms are linked to reflux, nonacid events are equally likely to be causative as acid events.
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