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Hoarseness and gastroesophageal reflux in children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Louise Gumpert
Affiliation:
Departments of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Faculté Cochin Paris Cedex 14, France.
Nicolas Kalach
Affiliation:
Departments of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Faculté Cochin Paris Cedex 14, France.
Christophe Dupont
Affiliation:
Departments of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Faculté Cochin Paris Cedex 14, France.
Philippe Contencin*
Affiliation:
Departments of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Faculté Cochin Paris Cedex 14, France.
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Philippe Contencin, Service d'ORL, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, 82, Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75674 Paris Cedex 14, France. Fax: 0033 140488320

Abstract

The importance of a hoarse voice or voice change in children has not been stressed in the literature in the same way as it has been in adults. We present 21 children who had been suffering from chronic hoarseness for more than three months and had on fibre-optic laryngoscopy findings suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux. None of them had complained of gastroesophageal symptoms. Twenty-four hour pH monitoring revealed that 13 (62 per cent) of these children had gastroesophageal reflux, seven (33 per cent) having gastroesophageal reflux more than three times the upper limit of normal. The pH graphs highlighted frequent refluxes, ranging from 0.4 to 37.4 refluxes per hour (median of 7.3 refluxes/hour). The majority of these refluxes occurred when the child was awake as opposed to asleep, with a median of 14.8 refluxes/hour and 0.9 refluxes/hour respectively (p = 0.0009). The refluxes were classically of short duration. This study suggests that gastroesophageal reflux plays a direct role in the pathogenesis of chronic laryngitis and hoarseness in children.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1998

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