NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies who spit up frequently in their first 2 years of life sometimes continue to have similar problems in childhood, a new study shows.

Australian researchers found that babies who often regurgitated or vomited after eating were more likely than others to have heartburn and other related symptoms by the time they were 9 years old.

The findings are published in the June issue of Pediatrics.

Gastroesophageal reflux--the general term for the back-up of stomach contents into the esophagus--is common in infancy. But whether these early reflux problems have any bearing on similar symptoms in childhood has been unclear, according to the authors of the new study, led by Dr. A. James Martin of Women's and Children's Hospital in North Adelaide.

To investigate, the researchers followed nearly 700 children from birth to around age 9. Parents kept a daily record of their babies' regurgitation and vomiting until age 2, and Martin's team looked at whether the frequency of these problems was related to heartburn and other reflux symptoms in childhood.

The investigators found that, as expected, reflux after eating was common early in infancy, with 41% of babies spitting up most "feeds" when they were 3 to 4 months old. For most, the problem resolved by the age of 14 months.

But babies who regurgitated or vomited food on 90 or more days during their first 2 years were more likely than others to have gastroesophageal reflux symptoms at age 9, the report indicates. For example, nearly 9% of these children sometimes had heartburn, compared with about 4% of kids who had less-frequent reflux as infants.

These children were also more likely to vomit when not ill and to have acid regurgitation--signified by a sour or bitter taste in the mouth.

In addition, both infants and children were more likely to have reflux symptoms when their mothers had their own problems with heartburn, acid regurgitation and vomiting--"suggesting," the researchers write, "that a genetic component may be involved."

Martin and colleagues point out that there is no evidence linking frequent infant reflux with the development of overt gastroesophageal reflux disease--a digestive disorder that affects the muscle keeping stomach contents from backing up into the esophagus. However, they add, more research should look into this possibility.

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2002;109:1061-1067.

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