Novel Measurement of Rapid Treatment Success with ReQuest<sup>TM</sup>: First and Sustained Symptom Relief as Outcome Parameters in Patients with Endoscopy-Negative GERD Receiving 20 mg Pantoprazole or 20 mg Esomeprazole

Vol. 71, No. 3, 2005

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Original Paper

Novel Measurement of Rapid Treatment Success with ReQuest^TM: First and Sustained Symptom Relief as Outcome Parameters in Patients with Endoscopy-Negative GERD Receiving 20 mg Pantoprazole or 20 mg Esomeprazole
Hubert Mönnikes^a, Bernd Pfaffenberger^b, Gudrun Gatz^b, Jasper Hein^c, Karna Dev Bardhan^d

^aDepartment of Medicine, Division Hepatology, Gastroenterology, and Endocrinology, Charité Medical Center - Campus Virchow Hospital, Medical School of Free University and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany;
^bALTANA Pharma AG, Constance, Germany;
^cPrivate Practice, Marburg, Germany, and
^dRotherham District General Hospital, Rotherham, UK

Address of Corresponding Author

Digestion 2005;71:152-158 (DOI: 10.1159/000085576)

Key Words

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, symptom relief
Endoscopy-negative GERD
ReQuest

Abstract

Background/Aims: A prime concern for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients is fast symptom control. Sparse valid information is available on the rapidity of the effect of proton pump inhibitors in provid ing symptom relief. The new reflux questionnaire Re Quest^TM is validated for daily assessment of changes in GERD symptoms. Therefore, this study investigated the efficacy of 20 mg pantoprazole and 20 mg esomeprazole with regard to the time to symptom relief in patients with endoscopy-negative GERD (enGERD) using ReQuest^TM. Methods: 529 patients were treated with pantoprazole or esomeprazole over 4 weeks. ReQuest^TM symptom scores were assessed daily. The mean and median times to first and sustained symptom relief were determined. Results: Median time to first symptom relief was 2 days for both drugs (intention-to-treat population). The median time to sustained symptom relief was 3 days shorter with pantoprazole (10.0 vs. 13.0 days). The Hodges-Lehmann estimator for the difference in time to reach first and sustained symptom relief between both groups was 0.00 days. For both variables the one-sided 95% CI (Moses) was [0.00; infin [, documenting no significant differences between the treatment groups. Conclusions: The rapidity of symptom control can be evaluated by clinically significant parameters using ReQuest. Pantoprazole and esomeprazole are equally effective in the time to first and sustained symptom relief.

Author Contacts

Prof. Hubert Mönnikes, Department of Medicine, Division Hepatology, Gastroenterology
and Endocrinology, Charité Medical Center - Campus Virchow Hospital
Medical School, Free University and Humboldt University
Augustenburger Platz 1, DE-13353 Berlin (Germany)
Tel. +49 30 450 653391, Fax +49 30 450 553991, E-Mail hubert.moennikes@charite.de

Article Information

Received: March 8, 2005
Accepted: April 25, 2005
Published online: May 4, 2005
Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 1, Number of Tables : 3, Number of References : 30

Medline Abstract (ID 15870503)

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