“…This 'silent aspiration' phenomenon is particularly severe in CF patients and highlights the urgent unmet need for rapid diagnosis of bile acid profiles in biological samples from respiratory and lung transplant patients (Button et al, 2005). In recent years a number of research publications have suggested that acid and non-acid reflux may negatively influence the progression of respiratory disease (D'Ovidio et al, 2005a, b;el-Serag & Sonnenberg, 1997;Pauwels et al, 2012;Perng et al, 2007;Wu, 2008;Wu et al, 2009). El-Serag & Sonnenberg showed that patients with erosive oesophagitis, a sign of significant GERD, had increased incidence of pulmonary fibrosis, chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a case-control study of more than 200 000 patients (el-Serag & Sonnenberg, 1997).…”