Gastroesophageal reflux to the proximal esophagus in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Recurrent aspiration after gastroesophageal reflux (GER) may contribute to the severity of chronic lung disease. If so, it should be possible to document acid reflux to the proximal esophagus. Using an esophageal pH probe placed at the level of the first or second thoracic vertebra, we evaluated GER in 14 infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and 13 infants without BPD. The infants with BPD had significantly less GER, as measured by the percentage of time the pH was less than 4 (3.26% +/- 7.05% vs 12.88% +/- 15.27% [mean +/- SD]), number of GER episodes per hour (0.46 +/- 0.66 vs 1.35 +/- 0.83), number of GER episodes lasting longer than 5 minutes per hour (0.10 +/- 0.23 vs 0.31 +/- 0.29), and longest GER episode (6.76 +/- 10.29 vs 26.66 +/- 38.30 minutes). Gastroesophageal reflux may be unimportant in infants with BPD, or even occasional episodes of GER may aggravate existing lung disease.