Prevalence and risk factors of Barrett's esophagus in patients undergoing endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal symptoms

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of Barrett's esophagus (BE) and its risk factors in patients undergoing endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal symptoms in a Chinese tertiary referral medical center. METHODS: All consecutive patients receiving an endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal symptoms in our medical center from September to December 2007 were recruited. BE was explored for at endoscopy when a suspected columnar-lined esophagus was found. Patients with specialized intestinal metaplasia in the distal esophagus were defined as having BE. RESULTS: A total of 2022 patients (1053 male and 969 female) were recruited. The patients were aged 18 to 88 years and with a mean age of 46.97 +/- 14.84 years. BE was found in 21 patients (15 male and 6 female), a prevalence of 1.0% of all patients receiving endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal symptoms in our medical center. One of the 21 patients had low-grade dysplasia. By logistic multivariate analysis, age (OR 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00, 1.07) and reflux esophagitis (OR 4.44; 95% CI, 1.22, 16.17) were factors associated significantly with BE. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of BE in our study was lower than that reported in other studies, especially in studies from developed countries. Older age and reflux esophagitis may be the risk factors for developing BE.