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Presenting Symptoms of Nonerosive and Erosive Esophagitis in Pediatric Patients

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Abstract

Children and adolescents with symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophagitis (EE) of grade ≥2 (n=45) or nonerosive esophagitis (NEE) (n=45) were assessed to determine the relationship between presenting symptoms, esophagitis severity, and patient age. Overall, regurgitation/vomiting, abdominal pain, and cough were the most frequent symptoms. The prevalence and severity of anorexia/feed refusal was significantly greater in EE versus NEE children; this symptom was also significantly more prevalent in younger (1–5 years) children (both NEE and EE groups) compared to older children. Cough was significantly less severe in NEE adolescents than in younger children. Cough, anorexia/feed refusal, and regurgitation/vomiting were more severe and heartburn was less severe in EE children aged 1–5 years compared with older patients. In conclusion, GERD in children manifests differently than that in adults and symptoms vary with patient age. Symptoms were not predictive of presence or lack of mucosal damage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Lake Forest, Illinois (TAP Studies: M97-808 & M97-640). M.B.H. is supported by NIH Grant DK 060617. We thank Susan Ruffalo, PharmD, of MedWrite, Inc., for consolidating and incorporating the authors’ comments and for creating the figures.

These data were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association 2001.

We thank the children and parents for their participation in this study and the study nurses/coordinators for their diligent efforts. Participating centers included (L. Book) University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; (D, Gremse) University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama; (T. Gunasekaran) Lutheran General Children's Hospital, Park Ridge, Illinois; (M.B. Heyman) University of California—San Francisco, San Francisco, California; (R. Kane, III) Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri; (R. Steffen) Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio; (V. Tolia) Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, Michigan; (H. Winter) Mass General Hospital for Children, Boston, Massachusetts; (G. Ferry) Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas; (S. Gupta) Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana; (S. Czinn) Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio; and (R. Torres-Pinedo) Digestive Disease Research Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Riley Hospital for Children, 702 Barnhill Dr, Room ROC 4210, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Sandeep K. Gupta

  2. British Columbia Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Columbia

    Eric Hassall

  3. Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, USA

    Yi-Lin Chiu

  4. TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Lake Forest, Illinois, USA

    Fouad Amer

  5. UCSF Children's Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

    Melvin B. Heyman

Authors
  1. Sandeep K. Gupta
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  2. Eric Hassall
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  3. Yi-Lin Chiu
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  4. Fouad Amer
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  5. Melvin B. Heyman
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Correspondence to Sandeep K. Gupta.

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Gupta, S.K., Hassall, E., Chiu, YL. et al. Presenting Symptoms of Nonerosive and Erosive Esophagitis in Pediatric Patients. Dig Dis Sci 51, 858–863 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-006-9095-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-006-9095-3

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