The Safety and Efficacy of Acid Suppression Therapy in Neonatal GERD

Abstract

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a common physiologic process in infants that often resolves with growth and maturation, while gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a serious and common referral disease in infants and neonates. The first-line treatment for both GER and GERD is conservative therapy. H2RAs and PPIs are the two basic pharmacologic agents in the treatment of GERD in pediatrics and adults. The efficacy of PPIs is higher than that of H2RAs in GERD treatment. There are controversies in the pharmacologic treatment of neonatal GERD, and performing more clinical trials to survey the effect of PPIs and H2RAs and compare them with each other is necessary in this age group. We conducted three different clinical trials to compare the efficacy and safety of ranitidine with omeprazole or lansoprazole in refractory neonatal GERD.