Gastric acid secretion, oesophageal acid reflux, and oesophagitis in patients with symptomatic gastro-oesophageal reflux.

Forty-seven patients with symptomatic gastro-oesophageal reflux were evaluated on the basis of symptoms, endoscopy, extended 18-h pH-monitoring of the lower oesophagus, and the pentagastrin test. The patients' acid secretion capacity did not correlate with symptoms or duration of acid reflux, but men with endoscopic oesophagitis had significantly higher BAO and MAO values than men without oesophagitis. In women this correlation was not found. The higher MAO values (in meq/h) in men than in women were abolished when the MAO was expressed as meq/h/FFB (fat-free body mass). The MAO values in all the men or all the women were not higher than the values obtained from a normal Finnish population. Both men and women with endoscopic oesophagitis had a significantly longer duration of oesophageal acid reflux than men and women with normal mucosa.