Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease has been considered as having a role in the course of asthma, as shown by the improvement of symptoms with adequate acid suppression therapy. It is important to consider and establish the presence of GERD in patients with asthma specially, those who fail to respond to conventional asthma management. It is believed that two mechanisms may play a role in the association between Bronchial Asthma and GERD, most commonly microaspiration of acid causing bronchoconstriction, the second being increased vagal tone.
Establishing an adequate and timely diagnosis and confirming or excluding a relationship between the two entities in asthmatic patients is the first step towards effective patient management. The next important consideration is establishing the correct acid suppression therapy and monitoring response to therapy with objective testing such as Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) and esophageal pH testing. Since there is not a real "normal" or physiologic reflux measure for patients with extresophageal manifestations as seen in patients with "classic" reflux where a total time of exposure to acid (pH \< 4) less than 5% is considered normal, in these patients it will be necessary to establish a more strict pH control than in those with classic GERD. Achieving complete acid control in this population is expected to require higher doses of medication than those used in patients with classic reflux and no extraesophageal manifestations. Thus we have developed this study in which we will assess the response to 20 mg BID dosing of Rabeprazole measured by pH monitoring and then follow improvement in Pulmonary Function Testing ( objective measure),as well as symptomatic response.
