Gastroesophageal reflux cough in children

The stomach is an important digestive organ in the human body. All food eaten by the human body needs to be digested and absorbed by the stomach. There are also sphincters at both ends of the stomach, mainly to ensure that gastric reflux problems do not occur. However, when a person's stomach gets cold or has a cold, gastroesophageal reflux symptoms are likely to occur. Children are a high-risk group for gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, but how should children's cough caused by gastroesophageal reflux be treated?

Both gastroesophageal reflux disease and laryngopharyngeal reflux are caused by continuous stimulation of the esophageal reflux, which causes irritation of the trachea and can lead to chronic cough, which may not necessarily involve sputum. This type of cough is sometimes very difficult to distinguish from cough variant asthma.

The most accurate method for diagnosing gastroesophageal reflux is endoscopic examination, which can also determine the severity of reflux esophagitis. Of course, the absence of reflux esophagitis cannot rule out GERD. It can also be combined with 24-hour esophageal acid-base testing, esophageal manometry and other examinations for comprehensive judgment. An airway pH monitoring system is required to confirm the diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux. The best method for diagnosing asthma is bronchodilator test, combined with clinical manifestations and previous history of allergies and attacks.

Studies have shown that the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux in asthma patients is much higher than that in the general population. Gastroesophageal reflux often triggers asthma attacks. Asthma attacks or drugs used to control asthma may also cause gastroesophageal reflux to worsen. The two may affect each other and form a vicious cycle. Foreign studies show that 1/3 of asthma is caused by laryngeal reflux! Domestic data show that this proportion is very low (probably related to the lack of measurement)

Recent studies have shown that for patients with moderate to severe asthma and gastroesophageal reflux or laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms, the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI, a type of acid suppression therapy) may help control asthma. Therefore, for patients with asthma and gastroesophageal reflux or laryngeal reflux symptoms, the continued presence of esophageal reflux stimulation will make the treatment effect of asthma worse, or symptoms such as wheezing and coughing will be difficult to improve. At this time, anti-reflux treatment and gastric acid inhibition treatment should be combined to greatly improve the treatment effect of asthma.

When conventional asthma treatment is ineffective, consider gastroesophageal reflux or laryngopharyngeal reflux!

So parents should pay attention. If children keep coughing, the problem may not be in the trachea, but may also be in the esophagus. Taking your child to the gastroenterology department may have unexpected results.