Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the association between clinical findings of GER and reflux esophagitis diagnosed by endoscopic and histopathological methods in adult patients with mild and moderate asthma. Frequency of GER symptoms was 77% in patients with mild asthma and 54% (p>0.05) in patients with moderate asthma. The frequencies for esophagi­tis diagnosed histopathologically were, in respective order, 55% and 36% (p>0.05). Frequency of histopathological esophagitis in cases with and without GER symptoms in the mild asthmatic patients was, respectively, 36% and 25% (p>0.05). These fig­ures were 33% and 40% (p>0.05) for the moderately severe asthmatic patients. Also, there were no significant differences in frequency of GER symptoms or histopathological findings between patients with or without nocturnal asthmatic attacks (p>0.05). Our findings show that GER disease, a condition which may affect prognosis, occurs frequently in patients with asthma. However, the study failed to show a significant associ­ation between the clinical severity of asthma and clinical- pathological findings of GER disease. Taking into account these findings it was concluded that, the presence of findings sug­gestive of GER should be included in the routine assessment of all asthma patients. Endoscopy and histopathological assess­ment should be performed in suspected cases.