Gastroesophageal reflux frequency of children in Hatay: A retrospective analysis

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) refers to clinical symptoms caused by pathological escape of stomach contents to esophagus. Several diagnostic methods are used for the detection of GERD in children. In our study, gastroesophageal reflux scintigraphy cases performed in our clinic between April 2012 and September 2010, were retrospectively analyzed visually and quantitatively. It was aimed to evaluate the frequency of GERD according to age groups in the pediatric population of Hatay. A total of 122 patients aged between 2 months and 15 years with suspicion of GERD were included to our study retrospectively. Patients were divided into 4 groups according to their ages, and each group was divided into 2 groups as GERD positive and negative ones. Scintigraphic imaging was performed using Tc-99m DTPA. Images were evaluated visually and quantitatively. There were pathologic reflux in 36 of 122 patients (29.5%) according to gastroesophageal reflux scintigraphy. GERD was found higher in boys than in girls statistically (p= 0.008) and positivity rate in 0-2 age group was significantly higher than in other age groups (p=0.001). The index values were higher in 0-2 age group cases who had negative gastroesophagial reflux index and this was statistically significant (P=0.007) than other age groups. As a result, gastroesophagial reflux scintigraphy is a well-tolerated imaging modality that allows the diagnosis of the disease noninvasively in children by avoiding the invasive diagnostic tests.