Cough and gastro-esophageal reflux in systemic sclerosis-associated ILD:a prospective study

<bold>BACKGROUND:</bold> in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease(SSc-ILD),it is difficult to know whether chronic cough is caused by gastro-esophageal reflux(GER). <bold>AIM:</bold> to evaluate the relationship between chronic cough and GER,respectively assessed by Leicester cough questionnaire(LCQ)and GER-symptom questionnaires. <bold>METHODS:</bold> cross-sectional analysis of a prospective observational study including SSc-ILD patients(<ext-link>NCT02136394</ext-link>). Collected data included 24hr multichannel intraluminal impedance pH(performed off proton-pump inhibitors(n=36)),LCQ and GER symptom questionnaires(UCLA Scleroderma Consortium Clinical Trial GIT 2.0 Questionnaire,GIT,and Reflux Disease Questionnaire,RDQ). Correlations were calculated using Spearman correlation coefficient. <bold>RESULTS:</bold> our population included 44 patients, mean age 56.3(±11),female 75%,ATA +41%, mean FVC%pred:74(±23),DLCO%pred:43,5(±15).LCQ scores were correlated with total minutes of reflux exposure and of acid exposure, but not with non-acid exposure(Table 1). Among GER questionnaire items,GIT reflux and RDQ dyspepsia domains were loosely correlated with LCQ scores. <bold>CONCLUSION:</bold> in our study, severity of cough was related to acid reflux, but not to non-acid reflux, and to the reflux and dyspepsia domains from the GER questionnaires, suggesting that acid reflux is likely to be a determinant of chronic cough in patients with SSc-ILD. Table 1 <table-wrap><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA4269/T1</object-id><object-id>T1</object-id><object-id>t1</object-id><table><colgroup><col></col><col></col><col></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td><bold>Impedance</bold></td><td><bold>Spearman’s Rho</bold></td><td><bold><italic>Pvalue</italic></bold></td></tr><tr><td>Total min. of reflux exposure</td><td>−0.56</td><td>0.0007</td></tr><tr><td>Total min. of acid exposure</td><td>−0.57</td><td>0.0006</td></tr><tr><td>Total min. of non-acid exposure</td><td>−0.04</td><td>0.84</td></tr><tr><td><bold>GERquestionnaires</bold></td></tr><tr><td>GIT total score</td><td>−0.08</td><td>0.62</td></tr><tr><td>GIT reflux domain</td><td>−0.42</td><td>0.005</td></tr><tr><td>RDQ total score</td><td>−0.23</td><td>0.13</td></tr><tr><td>RDQ dyspepsia domain</td><td>−0.35</td><td>0.02</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap>