Did you know:
- Reflux disease affects up to 8% of children and a much higher percentage of infants
- Some estimates put it as high as 1 in 5 babies
- As many as 90% of preterm infants experience GORD, which can lead to postprandial apnea¹, brachycardia, desaturations, emesis, and aspiriation
- In 2010 there were 297,900 births in Australia
- 7.9% of births in Australia are pre‐term
- That’s over 34,000 babies likely to be suffering with reflux disease in Australia each year
- Infant sleep problems are associated with post‐natal depression (PND)
- PND affects 10‐15% of mothers in the first year ‐ more than 25,000 mothers each year
- Maternal depression is well‐known to have effects of children’s cognitive, behavioural and emotional development
- And how’s this for scary… it’s not new: ‘Based on data from the 1950’s, the course of untreated GERD in infants and children has been well documented. GERD resolved by 2 years of age in 60% of patients, but persisted until 4 years of age in 30%. Of those, ½ developed esophageal strictures, and the other ½ died from malnutrition.’
- About 8% of all teenagers report regular reflux symptoms
- About 5% of all babies have cows milk protein intolerance (CMPI) and among reflux babies the rate may be as high as 60%.
- Up to 50% of babies who have CMPI will also react to soy protein.
- A significant number of adults with GORD symptoms experienced problems as infants or children. With a lack of evidence of un-treated symptoms resolving spontaneously, it appears likely that GORD is a lifelong disease for many people
- The list of risk factors for abuse of babies and for Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) are the same as the symptoms for reflux babies
- Risk factors for post-natal depression (PND) include symptoms experienced by GORD babies & their families
1 JE Dranove MD, Clinical Fellow, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatoloty and Nutrition, Indian University School of Medicine, James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indianaolic, Ind, New Technologies for the Diagnosis of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, Pediatrics in Review, 2008; 29: 317‐320
1. Sandritter, T. PharmD; “Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Infants and Children“;Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 2003;17(4)
2 Vartabedian, B., Colic Solved: The Essential Guide to Infant Reflux and the care of your crying, difficult‐to‐soothe baby; Ballantine Books, 2007, pg 3
3 Whitney, H., Reducing Gastroesophageal Reflux in Preterm Infants, Advances in Neonatal Care, 2010, 10:3 157
3.1 L. Corvaglia, et al; The frequency of apneas in very preterm infants is increased after non-acid gastro-esophageal reflux; Neurogastroenterol Motil (2011) 23, 303–e152
4 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010
5 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Social Trends, 2007
8 Boyce P, Stubbs JM. The importance of postnatal depression. Med. J. Aust. 1994; 161:417‐2
9 Beardslee W, Wheelock I. Children of parents with affective disorders: empirical findings with clinical implications. In: Reynolds WM, Johnston EF, eds. Handbook of Depression in Children and Adolescents. New York: Plenum Press, 1994; 463‐79
10 Rosen, F.S., Freiedman, N.R., Pediatric Gastroesophageal Reflux; Dept of Otolaryngology, University of Texas Medical Branch; 25 Oct 2000
12 Vartabedian, B., Colic Solved: The Essential Guide to Infant Reflux and the care of your crying, difficult‐to‐soothe baby; Ballantine Books, 2007, pg 100, 106
13 Vartabedian, B., Colic Solved: The Essential Guide to Infant Reflux and the care of your crying, difficult‐to‐soothe baby; Ballantine Books, 2007, pg 117
14 Winter, H S., Illueca, M., Henderson, C., and Vaezi, M. Review of the persistence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in children, adolescents and adults: does gastroesophageal reflux disease in adults sometimes begin in childhood?, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2011, 46:1157 – 1168
15 Barr R. Curves of early infant crying and SBS incidence, 2002. Paper presented at: Fourth National Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome; Sept 12-15, Salt Lake City, Utah & Ludwig S, Warman M. Shaken baby syndrome: A review of 20 cases. Ann Emerg Med 1984;13:104-107
16 National Health and Medical Research Council Information Paper on Postnatal Depression endorsed by NHMRC at its 136th session, Canberra, 31 July 2000