Medslant Acid Reflux Newsletter

GERD and Asthma

For almost 30 years doctors and health care professionals have believed there to be a link between GERD and asthma. Duke University Medical Center researchers appear to have the solution to at least part of the puzzle.

It has been easy to prove that between 50% - 90% of asthma sufferers experience GERD. The question has been what links them and does asthma cause GERD or is it the other way around.

Dr. Shu Lin, an assistant professor of surgery and immunology at Duke may have discovered the answer by working with laboratory mice. Dr. Lin discovered that inhaling tiny amounts of stomach fluid that have backed up into the esophagus produces changes in the immune system that can drive the development of asthma.

Although this is the first experimental evidence in a controlled laboratory setting linking the two, study co-author William Parker, a Duke assistant professor of surgery, states that this certainly does not mean that everyone who has GERD will develop asthma. It does mean that people with GERD may be more likely to develop asthma.

Since poor diet, lack of exercise, and obesity all contribute to the development of GERD, lifestyle choices that can be changed and controlled can help. Suggestions to minimize reflux and lessen the chance of developing asthma are standard:

* Eat smaller meals * Eat several hours before lying down * Elevate your upper body through the torso * Maintain a healthy weight * Identify your trigger foods and avoid them

Hormone Replacement Therapy and GERD

A new study profiled in the September Archives of Internal Medicine gives women taking hormones something else to cause concern: a study of more than 51,000 postmenopausal women showed that women taking hormone replacements had a 46% increased risk of GERD symptoms. Women taking estrogen had a 66% increased risk and those on combined estrogen and progesterone had a 41% increased risk. The study also showed that the chances of developing GERD increased with higher hormone doses and longer duration of use. Study author Dr. Brian Jacobson, an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, says that it has long been thought that female hormones are somehow associated with heartburn.

Researchers believe that hormones may lower pressure in the esophageal sphincter. Because of other risks, i.e. heart attack and cancer, most experts recommend that post menopausal women limit their hormone use. As always, it is best to consult your own physician or health care professional with concerns about what you are taking. And, it is never a good idea to stop meds or change the dosage without consulting the prescribing physician.

Save Money -- Take PPI's as Prescribed

A new study by Analysis Group, a company that provides economic consultation to corporations, government agencies and law firms, says that GERD patients who conform to the recommended dosage and frequency of their prescribed PPI require fewer health care services and save money. The study, underwritten by AstraZeneca, maker of Nexium, based their results on insurance claims data of more than 40,000 adults who had been diagnosed with GERD. Patients who were compliant with PPI therapy did have higher drug costs but this was offset by better health and the economic benefit of fewer outpatient visits and fewer hospital visits.

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