Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 209(3)

A Proton Pump Inhibitor, Lansoprazole, Ameliorates Asthma Symptoms in Asthmatic Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

YASUO SHIMIZU, KUNIO DOBASHI,¹ SETSUO KOBAYASHI,² ICHIRO OHKI,² MASAHIKO TOKUSHIMA,² MOTOYASU KUSANO, OSAMU KAWAMURA, YASUYUKI SHIMOYAMA, MITSUYOSHI UTSUGI, NORIAKI SUNAGA, TAMOTSU ISHIZUKA and MASATOMO MORI

Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan, ¹Gunma University Faculty of Health Science, Gunma, Japan, and ²Maebashi North Hospital, Gunma, Japan

Aspiration of acid to the airway causes airway inflammation, and acid stress to the airway caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been known as a potential mechanism of deteriorated asthma symptoms. However, the efficacy of the acid suppressive drugs, H₂-receptor blockers (H₂ blocker) and proton pump inhibitors, on asthma symptoms and pulmonary functions remains controversial. We therefore designed the randomized prospective study to determine the efficacy of an H₂ blocker (roxatidine, 150 mg/day) and a proton pump inhibitor (lansoprazole, 30 mg/day) on asthma symptoms of 30 asthmatic patients with GERD. These patients were divided in the two groups (15 patients for each group) and treated with either roxatidine or lansoprazole. The diagnosis of GERD was established by the method of Los Angeles classification including mucosal minimum change of Grade M and questionnaire for the diagnosis of reflux disease (QUEST) score. The efficacy of acid suppressive drugs was evaluated by peak expiratory flow (PEF), asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) that evaluates the improvement of asthma symptoms, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV_1.0). Lansoprazole, but not roxatidine, significantly improved PEF and ACQ scores (p < 0.05) with the improved QUEST scores. However, these acid suppressive drugs did not change the pulmonary function of FEV_1.0 in asthmatic patients. In conclusion, treatment with a proton pump inhibitor, lansoprazole, appears to be useful in improvement of asthma symptoms in asthmatic patients with GERD.

keywords —— asthma; gastroesophageal reflux disease; proton pump inhibitor; H₂-receptor blocker

© 2006 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 209, 181-189

Correspondence: Yasuo Shimizu, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-15 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan.

e-mail: yasuos@med.gunma-u.ac.jp