Epidemiologic aspects in esophageal pathology focusing on gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's esophagus

• Published in: Human & veterinary medicine Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 97 - 104
• Main Authors: Săraci, George, Vesa, Ştefan Cristian, Pascu, Oliviu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cluj-Napoca Bioflux SRL 01-11-2011
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Barrett's esophagus; Body mass index; Endoscopy; Epidemiology; Esophagitis; Gastroesophageal reflux; Health risk assessment; Helicobacter pylori; Hernia; Hernias; Intestine; Metaplasia; Multivariate analysis; Pathology; Risk factors; Sex; Surgery; Romania
• ISSN: 2066-7655; 2066-7663

Objective: To determine the main epidemiologic characteristics of esophageal pathology, insisting on gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Barrett's esophagus (BE) and to evaluate the relationship between these conditions and some widely spread risk factors. Material and methods: Data were collected from clinical file records archive, endoscopy reports and histopatologic reports and slides for 8225 patients (01.01.2005-31.07.2007) who presented esophageal changes during upper digestive endoscopy. We used Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to assess the normality of variables distribution and then we used parametric or non-parametric tests along with multivariate analysis. Results: BE is associated with male sex (r=0.039; p<0.001), esophagitis (p=0.001), gastric surgery (r=0.027; p=0.015). BE is negatively associated with esophageal varices (r=-0.1; p<0.01) and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection (r=0.024; p=0.02). Age is not an important factor (OR=0.99; p=0.03). Presence of sliding hiatal hernia (SHH) is influenced by body mass index (r=0.533; p<0.001) and female sex (p=0.001). SHH size influences the severity of esophagitis (r=0.04; p<0.01). The most frequent type of metaplasia is the incomplete intestinal one and the most frequent form of esophageal cancer is adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: BE is associated positively with GERD, esophagitis, male sex and negatively with Hp and esophageal varices. SHH influences severity of esophagitis and is more frequent in female patients. Adenocarcinoma is more frequent that squamous esophageal cancer.