Objective: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is strongly associated with sleep disturbances. Although treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) helps to improve GERD symptoms and subjective sleep parameters, the effects of PPI therapy on objective sleep parameters are conflicting. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of esomeprazole treatment on GERD symptoms and sleep parameters assessed using actigraphs and questionnaires.
Methods: Thirteen patients with GERD received 20 mg of esomeprazole once daily for two weeks. The patients wore actigraphs from three days before the initiation of PPI treatment to the end of therapy. They were also asked to answer the following self-reported questionnaires: Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of GERD (FSSG), Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Objective sleep parameters were evaluated using actigraphy.
Results: Treatment with esomeprazole significantly decreased the total FSSG score, including the scores for reflux and dysmotility, as well as the ESS score, although it had no effect on the PSQI score. After the second week of treatment, esomeprazole significantly decreased the wake time (from 47.5±39.6 min to 36.0±27.1 min) and sleep latency period (from 19.5±19.8 min to 9.9±10.2 min) and increased the percentage of sleep time (from 89.1±8.8% to 91.9±6.3%); however, improvements were not noted in all objective parameters.
Conclusion: Esomeprazole treatment significantly improves various objective sleep parameters in Japanese patients with GERD. Further placebo-controlled randomized trials are needed to obtain detailed results.