Do Patients with BE Have Increased Mortality Risk?

Patients with BE are at increased risk for death that is not entirely explained by esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Patients with Barrett esophagus (BE) have a 20-fold increased risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma compared with the general population. However, the only population-based study to evaluate mortality risk in BE patients reported a small decrease in all-cause mortality during up to 6 years of follow-up (Journal Watch Gastroenterology Oct 15 2003). To further examine mortality risk in BE patients, researchers in the U.K. compared the following cohorts from the General Practice Research Database: 1677 BE patients, 6392 patients with reflux esophagitis, 6328 patients with symptomatic reflux, and a reference cohort of 13,446 subjects matched by age, sex, and general practice.

All-cause mortality rates were 42 per 1000 patient-years in the BE cohort…

Reviewing Author

David A. Johnson, MD