Ultrasonographic study of postcibal gastro-esophageal reflux and gastric emptying in infants with recurrent respiratory disease

Table 1 Characteristics of enrolled subjects

	Patients	Controls	P
N	35	31
Age (mo)	5.6±2.9	4.5±3.6	NS
Weight (kg)	7.4±2.0	6.7±1.7	NS
Height (m)	0.7±0.07	0.6±0.01	NS

Data are expressed as mean±SD. NS: not significantly different.

Table 2 Ultrasonographic characteristics of gastro-esophageal reflux in infants with recurrent respiratory diseases and in healthy controls

	Patients	Controls	P
Number of reflux episodes	10 (2-21)	3 (1-9)	<0.01
Reflux frequency (reflux episodes/min)	0.5 (0.1-1.05)	0.15 (0.05-0.45)	<0.01
Maximal esophageal lumen enlargement (mm)	5 (1-17)	1.5 (1-9)	<0.01
Duration of the longest reflux episode (s)	11 (2-18)	4 (2-12)	<0.01

Results are expressed as median (range). Differences between groups were tested using Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 3 Ultrasonographic characteristics of gastro-esophageal reflux in patients with recurrent respiratory diseases in two age groups

	0-6 mo	7-12 mo	P
Number of reflux episodes	9.5 (3-21)	11 (2-18)	NS
Reflux frequency (reflux episodes/min)	0.5 (0.15-1.05)	0.6 (0.1-0.9)	NS
Maximal esophageal lumen enlargement (mm)	5.5 (1-17)	4 (1.6-11.5)	NS
Duration of the longest reflux episode (s)	11 (2-17)	7 (4-18)	NS

Results are expressed as median (range). Differences between groups were tested by Mann-Whitney U test; NS: not significantly different.

Table 4 Ultrasonographic characteristics of gastro-esophageal reflux in patients with or without symptomatic reflux episodes

	Withsymptomaticreflux	Withoutsymptomaticreflux	P
Subjects	20	15
Number of reflux episodes	11.5 (4-21)	7 (2-18)	<0.02
Reflux frequency (reflux episodes/min)	0.58 (0.2-1.05)	0.4 (0.1-0.9)	<0.05
Maximal esophageal lumen enlargement (mm)	5.5 (1.7-13.5)	3.0 (1-17)	NS
Duration of the longest reflux episode (s)	11 (6-18)	8 (2-17)	NS

Results are expressed as median (range). Differences between groups were tested using Mann-Whitney U test. NS: not significantly different.

Table 5 Ultrasonographic characteristics of gastro-esophageal reflux in patients with recurrent episodes of bronchitis (group A), chronic cough (group B), and in healthy controls

	Group A	Group B	Controls	ANOVA
Reflux prevalence (%)	82a	54a	3
Number of reflux episodes (N)	12.0 (2-21)ac	8.0 (2-12)a	3.0 (1-9)	<0.00001
Reflux frequency (N/min)	0.6 (0.1-1.05)ac	0.4 (0.1-0.6)a	0.15 (0.05-0.45)	<0.00001
Maximal esophageal lumen enlargement (mm)	5 (1-17)a	4 (1.5-11.8)a	1.5 (1-9)	<0.0001
Duration of the longest reflux episode (s)	11.5 (2-18)ac	7 (3-12)a	4 (2-12)	<0.00001

Results are expressed as median (range). Differences between percentage reflux prevalence were tested by χ² test. Differences between groups were examined by using ANOVA, followed by Fisher’s LSD multiple comparison test.

^aP<0.05 vs controls;

^cP<0.05 vs group B.

Table 6 Ultrasonographic characteristics of gastro-esophageal reflux in infants with recurrent respiratory diseases, with or without daily regurgitation

	With dailyregurgitation	Without dailyregurgitation	P
Subjects	20 (57%)	15 (43%)	NS
Number of reflux episodes (N)	10.5 (5-21)	8 (2-18)	<0.03
Reflux frequency (N/min)	0.5 (0.25-1.05)	0.4 (0.1-0.9)	<0.03
Maximal esophageal lumen enlargement (mm)	5 (1.5-17)	4 (1.0-11.5)	NS
Duration of the longest reflux episode (s)	11.5 (3-17)	7 (2-18)	<0.01

Results are expressed as median (range). Differences between groups were tested by using Mann–Whitney U test. NS: not significantly different.