Non-Acid Gastroesophageal Reflux and Respiratory Disorders: A Literature Review

Abstract

Recent technological advances that now permit us to detect gastroesophageal reflux (GER), independent of pH, have sparked a fury of interest in non-acid GER as a potential culprit in respiratory disorders. Application of combined esophageal pH and multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII) monitoring to the study and diagnosis of GER disease (GERD) demonstrated non-acid GER to be far more frequent (in infants, children, and adults alike) than previously recognized. The following report is a review of the current literature that describes non-acid GER or that temporally associates non-acid GER with respiratory disorders.