Barrett's esophagus is common in older men and women undergoing screening colonoscopy regardless of reflux symptoms.
BACKGROUND
Although Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma (ACA), most patients with ACA present outside of a BE surveillance program. This could be due to undiagnosed symptomatic GER and BE or BE/ACA occurring in patients without reflux symptoms. We have, therefore, studied the prevalence of BE and symptom status in older patients referred for colonoscopy.


METHODS
All patients referred for outpatient colonoscopy were eligible if they were at least 65 yr old and had not previously undergone esophagoscopy. After informed consent, the patients completed detailed GER questionnaires. During the research endoscopy, the endoscopist recorded the squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) as either long-segment BE (LSBE), short-segment BE (SSBE), or normal. If the SCJ was felt to be "irregular" the endoscopist was asked to predict, in their judgment, if BE was present. All patients had biopsies below the SCJ, which were examined by a gastrointestinal pathologist who was blinded to the endoscopic findings.


RESULTS
BE esophagus was present in 50 of the 300 patients studied (16.7%). BE was more common in men (35 of 161, 21.7%) than in women (15 of 139, 10.8%) (p < 0.025). GERD symptoms were reported in 106 patients (35%) and BE was present in 19.8% of symptomatic and 14.9% of asymptomatic cases (NS). The majority of the BE in this study was less than 3 cm in length (92%). The questionnaires did not predict the presence of BE.


CONCLUSIONS
BE is common in unscreened male and female patients at least 65 yr of age who are referred for colonoscopy. Men were more likely than women to have BE although it occurred in both sexes. Reflux symptoms were fairly common but a poor predictor of BE.
Ward
Eric M
EM
Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida 32224, USA.
Wolfsen
Herbert C
HC
Achem
Sami R
SR
Loeb
David S
DS
Krishna
Murli
M
Hemminger
Lois L
LL
DeVault
Kenneth R
KR
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology