Research has uncovered a connection between children's middle ear
infections -- also known as chronic otitis -- and gastro-esophagal
reflux disease (GERD), which occurs when gastric juice leaks into
the throat. Pepsin, the digestive enzyme found in stomach juice,
is frequently found in the fluid obtained from the middle ear of
children suffering from chronic otitis.
The puzzling factor with this connection concerning pepsin is that
children did not show an increase of GERD symptoms. This leads to
the question of whether GERD is truly the culprit behind otitis
media.
If the connection between otitis media and GERD is established,
researchers may be able to treat otitis media as a complication
of GERD rather than an infectious disease. This could result in
treating otitis media with anti-reflux agents. The theory here is
that these agents would allow children to skip tympanostomy, placement
of drainage tubes in the eardrum.
In a study, 34 children with a history of chronic otitis media
were candidates for the insertion of tympanostomy tubes. Twenty-two
children were tested, resulting in 36 ear fluid samples. The study
concluded:
- Two-thirds of the samples collected contained pepsin, or its
precursor pepsinogen.
- GERD symptoms were no more common in children with a history
of otitis media than in a comparison group without it
One aspect researchers need to be certain on is whether or not
the pepsin discovered originated from the stomach and not from somewhere
else. Such proteins as pepsin, or its precursor pepsinogen, can
also originate from the blood or from production in the middle ear.
Yahoo
News September 17, 2004
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