International Journal of Clinical Drug Practice & Pharmacotherapy

Abstract

Background: Food regurgitation (FR) is a physiologic process mostly happen in less than 2- year- old child in which the swallowed liquid or food moves from the stomach back into the mouth. The prevalence of FR is between 40-90% in infancy.

Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 5 health centers have selected randomly in south of Tehran, capital of Iran. From each health center 90 less than 18- month- old infants have selected conveniently. Each mother has undergone an interview about the infant’s characteristics and risk factors by trainedpersonnel. The infant’s characteristics included age, sex, the birth weight, gestational age, the maternal age, delivery type, birth order, the age for starting the supplemental food, the prominent milk type consumed in the first 6 months of life, family history of FR in the siblings, sleeping position or feeding position of the infant and existence of FR. Furthermore, in the involved babies the FR characteristics have asked the mothers contained, the daily frequency of FR, the daily time which FR mostly occur, volume and consistency of the food in FR, time of FR in relation to feeding, doing the burping process in the infant by the mother, the infant’s age of FR onset or abate, the amount of food regurgitated in each time, and associated disease in the involved infant.

Results: The prevalence of FR was 76.5% (344 babies). Most of the cases (54%) had less than 6- month-old. 52% of the cases were males. The percent of cases with FR was higher in the babies with nonspecific sleeping position or feeding position on back and in babies on breast feeding; there was not significant statistical relation between FR and these characteristics. FR was very common among low birth weight or preterm infants (83% & 71% respectively). 100% of the cases with congenital or chronic disorders involved with FR. The age of FR onset was mostly during the first week of life (70%) and FR abated mostly after 6 months of age (38%). In the involved infants, FR often happened all day long and mostly 1-2 times a day with low volume.

Conclusion: Though our findings are in consistent of other studies, performing perspective studies with support of para-clinic tests for confirming the diagnosis are highly recommended for obtaining true prevalence, characteristics and risk factors of FR among the less than 18- month- old babies.