Kids reflux – the facts and the stats

Did you know:

1. Reflux disease affects up to 8% of children and a much higher percentage of infants
2. Some estimates put it as high as 1 in 5 babies
3. As many as 90% of preterm infants experience GORD, which can lead to postprandial apnea¹, brachycardia, desaturations, emesis, and aspiriation
4. In 2010 there were 297,900 births in Australia
5. 7.9% of births in Australia are pre‐term
6. That’s over 34,000 babies likely to be suffering with reflux disease in Australia each year
7. Infant sleep problems are associated with post‐natal depression (PND)
8. PND affects 10‐15% of mothers in the first year ‐ more than 25,000 mothers each year
9. Maternal depression is well‐known to have effects of children’s cognitive, behavioural and emotional development
10. 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.’
11. About 8% of all teenagers report regular reflux symptoms
12. About 5% of all babies have cows milk protein intolerance (CMPI) and among reflux babies the rate may be as high as 60%.
13. Up to 50% of babies who have CMPI will also react to soy protein.
14. 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
15. The list of risk factors for abuse of babies and for Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) are the same as the symptoms for reflux babies
16. Risk factors for post-natal depression (PND) include symptoms experienced by GORD babies & their families