2 Patients with reflux during sleep are more likely to develop esophageal inflammation, peptic stricture, esophageal ulceration, Barrett’s esophagus and even adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.3,4 In addition, these patients have a higher prevalence of oropharyngeal, laryngeal and pulmonary manifestations.5,6 Poor quality of sleep and a variety of sleep disturbances
have been recently added to the growing list of extra-esophageal manifestations of GERD. Recent studies have suggested a bidirectional relationship between GERD and sleep (Fig. 1).7 GERD has been shown to adversely affect sleep by awakening patients from sleep during the night or more commonly by leading to multiple short amnestic arousals, PLX4032 nmr resulting in sleep fragmentation. At the same time, sleep deprivation per se can adversely affect GERD by enhancing perception of intra-esophageal acid (esophageal hypersensitivity).7 In fact, there is a potential ‘vicious cycle’ BAY 80-6946 in vivo in which GERD leads to poor quality of sleep,
which then in turn enhances perception of intra-esophageal stimuli that further exacerbates GERD.8 Overall, the epidemiology of nocturnal gastroesophageal reflux is not well studied. According to a Gallup Poll from 1988 in which 1000 GERD patients completed a survey, 79% of the respondents reported nocturnal heartburn.9 In a study by Farup et al., 74% of the GERD subjects with frequent GERD symptoms reported nocturnal GERD symptoms.10 In contrast, Locke et al. found in a community-based selleck screening library survey that 47% and 34% of the GERD sufferers reported nocturnal heartburn and nocturnal acid regurgitation, respectively.1 However, in the first two studies, only 57% and 54% of the patients, respectively, reported heartburn that awakened them from sleep during the night. Fass et al. in a large prospective, cohort study of subjects evaluated for sleep disturbances demonstrated that 24.9% reported heartburn during sleep.11 Recently, it was demonstrated that heartburn that
awakens patients from sleep during the night is highly predictive for GERD.12 This effect was further accentuated in morbidly obese subjects. In the aforementioned national survey of 1000 subjects with GERD, 75% of the participants reported that GERD symptoms affected their sleep, and 63% believed that heartburn negatively affected their ability to sleep well.9 Additionally, 42% stated that they were unable to sleep through a full night, 39% had to take naps during the day and 34% were sleeping in a seated position. Interestingly, 27% reported that their heartburn-induced sleep disturbances kept their spouse from having a good night’s sleep. The prevalence of sleep disturbances among respondents increased with increase in frequency of the night-time heartburn episodes during the week.
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