MAINTENANCE OF HEARTBURN CONTROL IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH HEALED EROSIVE ESOPHAGITIS TREATED WITH PANTOPRAZOLE 40 MG

Purpose: Elderly patients have more frequent complications of GERD than younger adults, such as erosive esophagitis (EE) and Barrett's esophagus (Am J Gastro 1995, 90:1053-7). However, we have recently reported that healing rates of erosive esophagitis was similar in elderly (=65 years) compared with younger adults (<65 years) when treated with pantoprazole 40 mg once daily (Am J Gastro 2003, 98:S53). There is little information in the literature about the responsiveness of elderly patients to therapy for GERD symptoms. The aim of this sub-analysis was to compare the control of heartburn in elderly and non-elderly patients treated with a proton pump inhibitor, pantoprazole, in maintenance of EE healing studies. Methods: This sub-analysis was based on combined data from two identical double-blind, randomized, comparator controlled, multi-center trials of patients with endoscopically demonstrated healing of erosive esophagitis at entry. Patients were randomized to pantoprazole 10, 20, or 40 mg once daily or ranitidine 150 mg twice daily for 12 months. Symptoms were assessed with diary cards that were completed daily by the patients. Results: A total of 175 patients received 40 mg pantoprazole QD, the recommended regimen for EE maintenance. There were 24 elderly patients in this analysis and the percentage of days without heartburn for daytime and nighttime are presented in table 1. The safety profile of pantoprazole in the elderly and nonelderly were similar.Table 1: Mean Percentage of Heartburn Free DaysConclusions: Elderly and younger adult patients have similar control of their daytime and nighttime heartburn when treated once daily with pantoprazole 40 mg during maintenance therapy after healing of EE.