Prevalence, clinical characteristics, and risk factors of Barrett esophagus in Vietnamese patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms

The current barrier for investigation of Barrett esophagus (BE) in Asia is diagnostic standardization, which is a challenge to identify its true risk factors. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, clinical characteristics and risk factors of BE in Vietnamese patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted on consecutive outpatients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Endoscopically suspected esophageal metaplasia (ESEM) which was clearly visible at least 1 cm above the gastroesophageal junction at endoscopy was taken biopsy. At least 1 biopsy per 2 cm in tongues of ESEM and 4 biopsies per 2 cm of circumferential ESEM were taken. The diagnostic criterion for BE was replacement of the normal squamous epithelial lining by columnar epithelium confirmed by histology. A total of 1947 patients were recruited. Forty-seven out of 58 patients with ESEM were histologically confirmed BE. The prevalences of BE and hiatal hernia (HH) were 2.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7–3.1%) and 2.3% (95% CI, 1.6–2.9%), respectively. Heartburn and/or regurgitation presented in only 61.7% (95% CI, 46.4–75.5%) of patients with BE. In multivariate analysis, the only 2 factors significantly associated with BE were HH (OR 7.53; 95% CI, 3.13–18.11; P < .001) and typical reflux symptom (OR 2.07; 95% CI, 1.12–3.83; P = .020). BE is not uncommon in Vietnamese patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. In addition, typical reflux symptoms and HH are the risk factors for BE in Vietnamese.