Prevalence of Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms in Asthma Patients at Srinagarind Hospital
Kitti Chunlertrith, MD*, Watchara Boonsawat, MD*, Uraiwan Zaeoue, BSc**
Affiliation : * Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen ** Pulmonary unit, Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen
Objective : To determine the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in asthma patients at Srinagarind
Hospital and compare them with a non-asthmatic control group.
Materials and Methods : A prospective study consisted of 151 asthma patients at the outpatient asthma clinic
Srinagarind Hospital and 147 non-asthmatic patients as the control group. The study group and the control
group were interviewed with questionnaire.
Results : Among the asthmatics, 26.5%, 30.5% and 12.6% experienced heartburn, regurgitation and both
symptoms, respectively. While in the control group, 15.6%, 26.5% and 10.2% experienced heartburn, regur-
gitation and both symptoms.
Conclusion : The present study showed the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in asthmatic
Thai patients and the control group to be 57% and 42.1%. Asthmatic patients had a greater prevalence than
the control group but there was no statistically significant difference.
Keywords : Asthma patients, Heartburn, Regurgitation
