A Study of Reflux Esophagitis in an Apparently Healthy Population

Abstract: To study reflux esophagitis in the general population, we reviewed the records of 64,171 apparently healthy Japanese adults, 48, 706 men and 15,465 women, who had undergone automated multiphasic health testing and services (AMHTS), a comprehensive routine medical health check, that includes double‐contrast upper gastrointestinal roentgenograms. All subjects suspected of having gastrointestinal disease underwent a flexible fiberscopy as indicated. Reflux esophagitis was thus confirmed in 101 subjects. The prevalence of refla esophugitis was 0.20% among men and 0.04% among women (men vs. women p<0.001) and its frequency increased with age in both men (p<0.001) and women (p<0.05). Endoscopic classification according to the Savary‐Miller criteria yielded 48, 27, 23, and patients in Stage I, II, III and IV, respectively. In this series, 49/101 (48.5%) of the esophagitis patients had concurrent upper gastrointestinal abnormalities. The incidence of heavy smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol was significantly higher in the patients with reflux esophagitis (p<0.001 and p<0.005, respectively) as compared with the normal population.