Relationship between chronic cough and gastroesophageal reflux in children

Objectives To investigate the relationship between chronic cough and gastroesophageal reflux(GER)in children.Methods Twenty-four-hour esophageal pH monitoring was performed in 170 cases(patient group)with chronic cough( 4 weeks),and 32 asymptomatic children served as control group.Results All the parameters of esophageal acid reflux including episodes of acid reflux,number of the reflux longer than 5 min,the longest reflux time(min),percentage time of pH 4 and Boix-Ochoa score were significantly higher in patient group than that in control group(P 0.01=.According to the diagnostic criteria of GER(Boix-Ochoa score 11.99 and reflux index ≥ 4.0%),pathological GER was detected in 63 of 170(37.1%)in patient group,while it was only 3.1%(1/32)in controls,with the statistical difference(χ2 = 14.327,P 0.01).The significant differences were also observed in the positive rate of GER among the three different age group,they were 47.4%(27/57),41.5%(17/41)and 26.4%(19/72)in patients aged from two months to one years,less than 3 years and more than 3 years,respectively(χ2 = 6.453,P 0.05).Conclusions It was suggested that GER could be the underlying cause of chronic cough in children,especially in those aged less than 3 years.24-hour ambulatory esophageal pH monitoring is a useful test for identifying the etiology of chronic cough in children.