Airway microbiome and responses to corticosteroids in corticosteroid-resistant asthma patients treated with acid suppression medications

Patients with refractory, difficult to treat asthma often have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).1 Studies to date emphasize the complexity of interactions between the respiratory and gastrointestinal system. This makes it challenging to discern the mechanisms that link reflux and lung disease.1 Acid suppression medications—proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine receptor 2 antagonists (H2 blockers)—are widely prescribed in patients with asthma and chronic cough. Studies also report that esophageal microbiota are subject to change in health and disease, including in patients with esophagitis and GERD.

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