ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Pathology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1552126
This article is part of the Research TopicApplication of Multimodal Data and Artificial Intelligence in Pulmonary DiseasesView all 9 articles
Association of gastroesophageal reflux disease with the incidence of pulmonary diseases
Provisionally accepted
- 1West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 2Public Health and Clinical Center of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
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Objective Concurrent pulmonary diseases are common in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, whether GERD increase the incidence of pulmonary diseases is uncertain because of a lack of quantitative evidence.We conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether GERD was associated with the increased incidence of subsequent of pulmonary diseases.The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases were searched through July 12, 2024. The primary outcomes were asthma and pneumonia, and the secondary outcomes were pulmonary fibrosis (PF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, interstitial lung disease (ILD), bronchiectasis, bronchitis, acute lung injury (ALI), pulmonary embolism, pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTMPD). Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to investigate the associations of prior GERD with the incidence of pulmonary diseases, and subgroup analyses based on the treatment of GERD, age and source of OR were performed.Results A total of 45 cohort studies were included. The pooled results indicated that GERD was significantly linked to an increased incidence of asthma (OR=1.50, P<0.001) and pneumonia (OR=1.53, P<0.001), as did PF (OR=1.43, P=0.001), COPD (OR=1.41, P=0.004), lung cancer (OR=1.51, P<0.001), ILD (OR=1.28, P=0.015), bronchiectasis (OR=1.63, P=0.039), bronchitis (OR=1.24, P<0.001), ALI (OR=2.07, P<0.001), pulmonary embolism (OR=1.33, P=0.013), PTB (OR=1.63, P=0.015) and NTMPD (OR=3.36, P<0.001). Subgroup analyses stratified by age and source of OR yielded similar results. However, no significant associations between treated GERD and the incidence of asthma (OR=1.27, P=0.081) or lung cancer (OR=1.01, P=0.97) were observed.The presence of GERD is associated with an increased incidence of subsequent various pulmonary diseases, but regular treatment may eliminate this effect. These findings highlight the importance of screening and management for pulmonary diseases and of standardized therapy in patients with GERD.
Keywords: Gastroesophageal reflux disease, pulmonary disease, Meta-analysis, Asthma, Pneumonia
Received: 27 Dec 2024; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Bu, Liu, Che and Gong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sheng Gong, Public Health and Clinical Center of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
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