Treatment
Review: over-the-counter medications are effective for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease
Tran T, Lowry AM, El-Serag HB. Meta-analysis: the efficacy of over-the-counter gastro-oesophageal reflux disease therapies. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2007;25:143–53.[Medline]
Q Are over-the-counter medications effective for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD)?
Key Words: gastro-oesophageal reflux • drugs (non-prescription) • antacids • histamine H2 antagonists
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Data sources:
Medline (to 2005), reference lists, abstracts of scientific meetings, and drug manufacturers.
Study selection and assessment:
English language randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared an antacid, alginate-antacid combination, or histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H2RA) at over-the-counter doses with placebo for treatment of GORD in adults and reported outcomes of interest (see below). 14 RCTs involving 18 comparisons (n = 7021) met the selection criteria. Quality of individual trials was assessed using the Jadad score.
Outcomes:
adequate relief of GORD symptoms, subjective global improvement, and use of rescue antacids.
Antacids provided greater subjective improvement and less use of rescue antacids than placebo (table
). The alginate-antacid combination provided greater subjective improvement than placebo (table). H2RAs provided better relief of symptoms, greater subjective improvement, and less use of rescue antacids than placebo (table).
|
View this table: Over-the-counter medications v placebo for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease* |
Over-the-counter medications, such as antacids, alginate-antacid combinations, and
Lakehead University,
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
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