title: Low frequency of endoscopic esophagitis in Asian patients.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of endoscopic esophagitis in patients seen for upper gastrointestinal complaints in an Asian center. We studied a consecutive series of 11,943 patients undergoing diagnostic esophagogastroduodenoscopy at our unit over a 10-year period. Three hundred and eighty-nine patients (3.3%) had endoscopic esophagitis with no other significant lesion (primary esophagitis), whereas 143 (1.2%) had esophagitis associated with peptic ulcer or gastric or duodenal malignancy (secondary esophagitis). In contrast, peptic ulcer was diagnosed in 2,787 patients (23.3%) and gastric carcinoma in 286 (2.4%). The reported frequency of endoscopic esophagitis among patients undergoing endoscopy in Western countries varied from 9 to 23%. Our data therefore show that endoscopic esophagitis is much less common in Singaporean patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Tay
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Math
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016145:Endoscopy, Digestive System; D004941:Esophagitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology