Prevalence of physiological and pathological gastroesophageal reflux in newborns in Kashan

Gastroesophageal reflux is very common in infants and its diagnosis is not through clinical signs but through diagnostic tests, especially ultrasound. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of physiological and pathological gastroesophageal reflux in neonates born in Kashan.

In this cross-sectional study, 214 infants underwent ultrasound to assess the presence of GERD. First, the infant was fasting for one hour, then breast milk or formula was given as desired, and finally for 15 minutes in the mother's arms was upright position and an ultrasound was performed. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 using chi-square and independent t-tests.

The results showed that 180 neonates (84.1%) had reflux, of which 125 neonates had physiological reflux and the rest were pathological. Also, the type of GERD did not have a significant relationship with the variables related to the infant (sex, weight and type of nutrition) and mother (age, gestational age and type of delivery) (P>0.05).

The results showed that the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux (physiological and pathological) was high in neonates, so it seems that screening for neonatal reflux with ultrasound and following the course of neonatal physiological reflux to recovery and also following the treatment of pathological reflux are useful in reducing long-term reflux complications.