A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that treating heartburn is not an effective way to control asthma symptoms. For many years patients with acid reflux symptoms and asthma have been treated with reflux medication thinking that treating the treatment was associated with improvement in asthma.
The investigators preformed a randomized controlled trial where participants received either the drug esomeprazole or a placebo and were monitored to see if there were improvements in asthma symptoms.
No differences in the number of episodes of poor asthma control, lung function tests, or other symptoms such as nighttime awakenings or quality of life were noted.
Norman H. Edelman, Chief Medical Officer for the American Lung Association, commented in a press release that "each year, people with asthma are spending as much as $10 million dollars on prescription heartburn medication believing it will help control attacks of wheezing, coughing, and breathlessness." He went on to say "now we know with confidence that silent acid reflux does not play a significant role in poor asthma control." Importantly, the results do not have implications for the treatment of heartburn symptoms.
However, if you are taking heartburn medication for the control of your asthma, you may want to discuss the continued benefits of this practice with your asthma care provider.
This is interesting. I haven’t been on GERD treatment for my asthma, but I, too, thought it was one more thing that could irritate the lungs, if it came up the esophagus and then down the trachea. Sort of like aspiration pneumonia.
Oh, does that mean the article directly under this is incorrect? The “Asthma and GERD — Acid Reflux and Heartburn Worsening Asthma” article?
No. The above article was regarding people who were asymptomatic. The article below is discussing people who have GERD and symptoms for which treating GERD can improve asthma.