Does omeprazole improve asthma-control in poorly-controlled asthmatic children with gastro-esophageal reflux.

OBJECTIVES: The role of gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in poorly controlled asthma is often mentioned, but published studies have presented discordant results. Our main objective was to assess the effectiveness of GERD treatment in controlling asthma in children. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study including poorly controlled asthmatic children aged 4 to 16 years. We checked the presence of acid reflux using pH monitoring. Patients with GERD were randomized into two groups; one received omeprazole for 6 months and the control group was not treated. The outcome was the score of the children asthma control test at the end of 6 months. The acid suppression was checked at the end of treatment with pH monitoring. After treatment, children with persistent acid reflux received high PPI doses and therefore were reevaluated 6 months later. RESULTS: We included 102 children with poorly controlled asthma among which 59 (57.8%) had acid reflux. Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) was significantly more common in boys (p = 0.04). Treatment with omeprazole in sufficient doses improved the control of asthma in 5 children out of 6 (84.8 vs 11.5; p<.0001). Three factors appeared to be statistically associated with asthma control improvement after PPI therapy: male sex (p=.04), normal birth weight (p=.05) and a positive Prick-test (p=.05). These factors were not confirmed or were not sufficiently precise in multivariate analysis. The likelihood of a causal relationship between acid reflux and asthma, difficult to highlight with pH monitoring, was poor. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the high prevalence of GER in poorly controlled asthmatic children and showed the possible benefit of an efficient GER treatment in improving asthma control.

Systolic Pulmonary Artery Pressure Thresholds Predictive of Dyspnea on Stress Doppler Echocardiography in Mitral Stenosis.

Background: On Stress Doppler Echocardiography (SDE) in mitral stenosis, the systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) threshold at peak exercise recommended by the guidelines as an indication for percutaneous mitral commissurotomy (PMC) used to be 60 mmHg. However, because of the paucity of studies, that threshold has been controversial. The Europeans stopped using the value in 2007, followed by the Americans in 2014. Objective: Determine SPAP thresholds on SDE at peak exercise and post-exercise predictive of dyspnea as an indication for PMC in mitral stenosis. Method and results: Three hundred mitral stenosis patients with a mitral valve area (MVA) ≤ 2 cm2 and NYHA I-II-III were included. A treadmill stress test (Bruce protocol) was used in all cases to distinguish dyspneic patients (n = 182) from non dyspneic patients (n = 118). SDE was performed on a stress echocardiography bed, starting at 30 W and increasing by 30 W every 3 min. At peak exercise, the best SPAP threshold obtained was 75 mmHg: specificity (Sp) = 0.98 (0.94-1), positive likelihood ratio (LR+) = 47 (41-50), positive predictive value (PPV) = 0.99 (0.95-1), and positive predictive error (PPE) = 0.01 (0.002-0.05). This compared with, respectively, 0.34, 1, 0.69 and 0.31 at 60 mmHg. Post-exercise, the best SPAP threshold found was 60 mmHg: Sp = .94 (0.88-0.97), LR = 9 (4-10), PPV = 0.94 (0.87-0.97), and PPE = 0.06 (0.03-0.13). Conclusion: Regarding the prediction of dyspnea as an indication for PMC, our study shows that a SPAP value at peak exercise of 60 mmHg lacks predictive power (LR+=1). The optimal threshold observed was 75 mmHg at peak exercise (LR+ = 47 [41-50]) and 60 mmHg post-exercise (LR+ = 9 [4-10]).

Obesity and association with area of residence, gender and socio-economic factors in Algerian and Tunisian adults.

INTRODUCTION: The epidemiological transition has resulted in a major increase in the prevalence of obesity in North Africa. This study investigated differences in obesity and its association with area of residence, gender and socio-economic position among adults in Algeria and Tunisia, two countries with socio-economic and socio-cultural similarities. METHODS: Cross-sectional studies used stratified, three-level, clustered samples of 35-70 year old adults in Algeria, (women n = 2741, men n = 2004) and Tunisia (women n = 2964, men n = 2379). Thinness was defined as Body Mass Index (BMI) = weight/height <18.5 kg/m(2), obesity as BMI ≥30, and abdominal obesity as waist circumference/height ≥0.6. Associations with area of residence, gender, age, education, profession and household welfare were assessed. RESULTS: Prevalence of thinness was very low except among men in Algeria (7.3% C.I.[5.9-8.7]). Prevalence of obesity among women was high in Algeria (30.1% C.I.[27.8-32.4]) and Tunisia (37.0% C.I.[34.4-39.6]). It was less so among men (9.1% C.I.[7.1-11.0] and 13.3% C.I.[11.2-15.4]).The results were similar for abdominal obesity. In both countries women were much more obesity-prone than men: the women versus men obesity Odds-Ratio was 4.3 C.I.[3.4-5.5] in Algeria and 3.8 C.I.[3.1-4.7] in Tunisia. Obesity was more prevalent in urban versus rural areas in Tunisia, but not in Algeria (e.g. for women, urban versus rural Odds-Ratio was 2.4 C.I.[1.9-3.1] in Tunisia and only 1.2 C.I.[1.0-5.5] in Algeria). Obesity increased with household welfare, but more markedly in Tunisia, especially among women. Nevertheless, in both countries, even in the lowest quintile of welfare, a fifth of the women were obese. CONCLUSION: The prevention of obesity, especially in women, is a public health issue in both countries, but there were differences in the patterning of obesity according to area of residence and socio-economic position. These specificities must be taken into account in the management of obesity inequalities.