Smartest Doc
Many Patients Continue Using Proton Pump Inhibitors After Negative Results From Tests for Reflux Disease
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology , 06/14/2012
Clinical Article
Gawron AJ et al. – More than 42% of patients with negative results from pH monitoring studies continue protein pump inhibitors (PPIs) therapy despite physiological data that they do not have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Methods- The authors analyzed data from patients who had undergone Bravo pH monitoring or MII-pH testing at Northwestern University, without evidence of reflux disease.
- Demographics, endoscopy findings, pathology results, and provider recommendations were obtained via chart review.
- Eligible patients (n=90) were contacted by telephone, and a cross-sectional survey was administered with questions about symptom severity, demographics, medication use, and health behaviors.
- Patients were compared by current PPI use, and statistical analyses were performed by using SAS version 9.2 software.
- Thirty-eight patients (42.2%) reported current PPI use despite a negative result from a pH study.
- Only 17 patients (18.9%) recalled being instructed to stop taking PPIs; chart review showed documented instructions to stop PPI therapy for 15 patients (16.7%).
- There were no significant differences in demographic or clinical characteristics among patients compared by current PPI use.
- Patients taking a PPI were more likely than those not taking a PPI to report troublesome symptoms that affected their daily life, as measured by a questionnaire for the diagnosis of GERD (the GerdQ).
