Abstract
Background
The causal relationship between asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is unknown in children.
Methods
The Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Sample Cohort 2002–2013 was used. The population age <15 years was selected. In study I, 86,096 asthmatic children were 1:1 matched with 86,096 control I participants. In study II, 532 GERD children were 1:2 matched with 1064 control II participants. The stratified Cox proportional hazard ratios for GERD in patients with asthma (study I) and asthma in patients with GERD (study II) were analyzed.
Results
In total, 0.7% (583/86,096) of the asthma group and 0.5% (430/86,096) of the control I group had GERD (P < 0.001). The asthma group demonstrated a 1.36 times higher HR for GERD than the control I group (95% CI = 1.20–1.54, P < 0.001). Subgroup analyses according to age and sex showed consistent results. In total, 15.0% (80/532) of the GERD group and 10.0% (106/1,064) of the control II group had asthma (P < 0.001). The GERD group showed a 1.62-fold higher HR for asthma than the control II group (95% CI = 1.21–2.18, P < 0.001).
Conclusion
GERD and asthma demonstrated a bidirectional relationship in children.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by a research grant (NRF-2018-R1D1A1A02085328 and NRF-2016M3A9E8941669) from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea.
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S.Y.K. and H.-R.K. conceived the study. H.G.C., D.J.O. and B.P. designed and directed the study. S.Y.K. and H.G.C. drafted the manuscript. H.-R.K. and C.M. analyzed the data. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.
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Kim, S.Y., Kim, HR., Min, C. et al. Bidirectional association between GERD and asthma in children: two longitudinal follow-up studies using a national sample cohort. Pediatr Res 88, 320–324 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0749-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0749-1
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