Briefly noted: DR Duncan et al. J Pediatr 2019; 211: 112-9.

In this retrospective cohort study of infants with brief resolved unexplained events (BRUEs) at Boston Children’s Hospital, the authors examined guideline implementation among 359 subjects in the year before and the year after AAP guidelines.

Key findings:

• There were no significant changes in practice after guideline publication
• Only 13% had videofluoroscopic swallow study performed; 72% of these showed aspiration/penetration
• No subject had reflux testing, “yet reflux was implicated as the cause” for BRUE in 40%. Children continued to be “discharged on acid suppression despite lack of efficacy”

My take: The pendulum is (slowly) starting to swing back from blaming everything (including BRUEs) on reflux but this change is not evident in this study.

Related blog posts:

• Something Useful for ALTEs (BRUEs)
• 2018 AAP: Reflux Management in Preterm Infants
• 2018 Pediatric Gastroesophageal Reflux Guidelines
• How Many Kids with Reflux have Reflux?
• pH Probe Testing: Rumors of My Death are Premature
• Better to do a coin toss than an ENT exam to determine reflux