Low proportion of Barrett's esophagus in Asian Americans.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the proportion of Barrett's esophagus (BE) in Asians versus non-Asians and the predictors of BE in patients with upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study to determine the proportion of BE from all consecutive patients who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for various indications at an outpatient, community-based gastroenterology practice in northern California from February 2000 to September 2006. BE was defined as endoscopically recognized presence of salmon-pink mucosa in the distal esophagus and intestinal metaplasia on biopsy. We also performed a nested case-control study to determine potential predictors of BE.


RESULTS
In total, 5,293 patients were reviewed. BE was more common in non-Asians (31/1464, 2.1%) than Asians (29/3829, 0.76%) (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis controlling for increasing age, male gender, ethnicity, smoking, and alcohol, the strongest predictor of the presence of BE was non-Asian ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] 3.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.85-6.85), followed by male gender (OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.32-5.45).


CONCLUSIONS
BE is uncommon in Asian Americans; non-Asian ethnicity and male gender are significant independent predictors of BE.
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Khoa D
KD
Lam
Jeanine T
JT
Phan
Ruel T
RT
Garcia
Huy
H
Trinh
Huy
H
Nguyen
Khanh
K
Nguyen
George
G
Triadafilopoulos
Philip
P
Vutien
Long
L
Nguyen
Mindie H
MH
Nguyen
D001213:Asian; D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016145:Endoscopy, Digestive System; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors