title: Association of metabolic syndrome with erosive esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus in a Chinese population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Metabolic syndrome has been highlighted as a risk factor for several gastrointestinal diseases, including gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's esophagus (BE). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of metabolic syndrome with erosive esophagitis (EE) and BE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were retrospectively collected from patients who visited the Medical Screening Center at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan from January 2006 to December 2009. All patients underwent an open-access transoral upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and serum laboratory data were collected. The exclusion criteria included prior gastric surgery, or presence of esophageal varices or peptic ulcers. These patients were assigned to groups according to their endoscopic findings as follows: (1) normal group; (2) EE group; and (3) BE group. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the International Diabetes Federation criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 560/6499 (8.6%) patients, 214/1118 (9.6%) patients, and 19/95 (20%) patients with metabolic syndrome in the normal, EE, and BE groups, respectively. There was a significantly higher percentage of cases with hypertriglyceridemia in the EE group (67%) compared with the other groups. The BE group had significantly higher rates of central obesity (33%) and hypertension (29.5%) compared with rates in the normal and EE groups. After adjusting for confounders, the positive association with metabolic syndrome still existed in both the EE group (adjusted odds ratio=2.43; 95% confidence interval=1.02-3.44) and the BE group (adjusted odds ratio=2.82; 95% confidence interval=2.05-3.88).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our research indicated that in fact there is a greater risk of concurrent metabolic syndrome in patients with EE or BE.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: ericest@vghtc.gov.tw.
authors.forename: Shou-Wu
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Han-Chung
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lien
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chi-Sen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Teng-Yu
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Yen-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Internal Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Hong-Zen
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001471:Barrett Esophagus / Q000209:etiology*; D004941:Esophagitis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Barrett’s esophagus; erosive esophagitis; metabolic syndrome