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Concomitant vesicoureteral reflux and gastroesophageal reflux: an analytic cross-sectional study

  • Urology – Original Paper
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Abstract

Purpose

Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) are both common disorders in children and could be associated with significant morbidities. Although they appear to be separate entities, their natural history and underlying pathophysiology are the same and they both tend to resolve over time. We aimed to appraise their concurrent occurrence and prevalence of GER in VUR patients to understand whether they can be considered different manifestations of a syndrome mainly caused by developmental delay resulting in dysfunction of the sphincters.

Methods

Totally, 174 children ≤2 years of age were enrolled and 87 of them with primary VUR constituted patients group. The rest of the cases with the same age and sex distribution entered control group. All the study population underwent ultrasonographic evaluation to detect GER.

Results

GER was more frequent in patients with primary VUR. GER was more prevalent in higher grades of VUR. We observed higher prevalence of GER and higher grades of VUR in younger infants demonstrating the tendency of both conditions to resolve overtime. Bilateral VUR was more prevalent among patients with higher grades of VUR. GER was more prevalent in patients with bilateral VUR and Prevalence of bilateral VUR decreased with increase in age. These findings show that the chance of concomitant GER and VUR is higher in children with more severe developmental defect of sphincters.

Conclusions

Regarding the higher prevalence of GER among VUR patients and correlation of VUR severity with co-occurrence of GER, besides the natural tendency of both conditions to resolve overtime, they may be considered parts of developmental delay syndrome of sphincters.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Shima Aran

    Present address: Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Aydin H. Pooli

  2. Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Shima Aran

  3. Section of Orthopedic surgery, Fatemeye Zahra Hospital, Moallem Square, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

    Amir Reza Farhoud

  4. Department of Radiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Lila Saidian

  5. Department of Pediatric Urology, Pediatric Urology Research Center, The Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, No 32, 7th Street, Saadat-Abad Ave., 1998714616, Tehran, Iran

    Amir Reza Farhoud & Abdol-Mohammad Kajbafzadeh

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  1. Aydin H. Pooli
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  2. Shima Aran
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Correspondence to Abdol-Mohammad Kajbafzadeh.

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Pooli, A.H., Aran, S., Farhoud, A.R. et al. Concomitant vesicoureteral reflux and gastroesophageal reflux: an analytic cross-sectional study. Int Urol Nephrol 44, 327–334 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-011-0021-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-011-0021-z

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