Extraesophageal symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease during pregnancy.

Aim: Typical symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are known to be frequent in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to gain a first estimation of the occurrence of extraesophageal symptoms in this context. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was performed on 166 pregnant women and in a control group of 285 women. The diagnosis of GERD was based on the Montreal classification using the reflux disease questionnaire (RDQ). Extraesophageal symptoms were recorded with a self-administered questionnaire. Typical GERD symptoms and extraesophageal GERD symptoms were recorded in each trimester of pregnancy. Results: The prevalence of GERD during pregnancy was 16.9 % in the first, 25.3 % in the second and 51.2 % in the third trimester. The prevalence of GERD in the control group was 6.3 %. Asthma was reported by 3.5 % of controls and by 6 % of pregnant women during pregnancy. Chest pain occurred in 6 % of the controls and in 1.8 %, 2.4 % and 2.4 % during the trimesters of pregnancy, chronic cough was reported by 1.1 % of controls and 1.2 % of pregnant women. With the diagnosis of GERD the odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for asthma, chronic cough and chest pain in the third trimester of pregnancy were as follows: 1.56 (0.58 – 4.22) for asthma, 0.91 (0.08 – 10.28) for chronic cough and 2.04 (0.49 – 8.46) for chest pain. Conclusion: GERD is very frequent during pregnancy with progressive incidence during the course of pregnancy. Extraesophageal symptoms of GERD have an unexpected low prevalence during pregnancy.