title: Metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risk of Barrett esophagus: A meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Barrett esophagus (BE) is considered precursor condition of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Its incidence and prevalence are increasing in general population. Studies reported that metabolic syndrome (MS) or diabetes mellitus (DM) is related to increased risk of BE. Current study was to assess and better understand the relationship between MS /DM and BE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic search was conducted in the database Pubmed/Medline (-December, 2015), Embase (-December, 2015), Cochrane Library (-December, 2015), and Web of Knowledge (-December, 2015). Studies included were assessed with summary odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and compared exposure group with control group. The heterogeneity was examined by the funnel plot and the Egger's test. Subgroup analyses and sensitive analyses were performed for the detection of possible heterogeneity and impact on stability of analysis results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve publications met the criteria and included 355,311 subjects were analyzed. The pooled results showed MS was closely associated with increased risk of BE (OR = 1.23; 95%CI 1.03-1.47; P = 0.024), and yet DM did not significantly increase the risk of BE (OR = 1.07; 95%CI 0.82-1.38; P = 0.627). Substantial heterogeneities were detected. No significant publication bias was detected by Egger's test (P = 0.23).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the results of current meta-analysis, MS is associated with increased risk of BE. Further long-term follow-up prospective study needs to verify the current results, and definite pathophysiological mechanism needs to be further investigated and clearly elucidated.
authors: Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Qiong
authors: Q
authors: He
authors: Jian-Dong
authors: JD
authors: Li
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Huang
authors: Wen-Chang
authors: WC
authors: Zhu
authors: Jian-Quan
authors: JQ
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D011379:Prognosis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution