Clinical characteristics of asymptomatic esophagitis

Asymptomatic esophagitis is not rare in gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, little attention has been given to this disease so far. We evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients with asymptomatic esophagitis and determined the factors associated with this disease.

A cross-sectional survey was performed of 87 patients with esophagitis, aged 23 to 90 years, diagnosed by endoscopy. We assessed 12 clinical variables at the time of the endoscopy: symptoms, age, sex, severity of esophagitis (Los Angeles classification), grade of gastric mucosal atrophy, presence or absence of Barrett's epithelium and sliding hernia, alcohol, smoking, body-mass index (BMI), comorbid diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma, and medications such as calcium blocker and theophylline.

Most patients had grade A or B esophagitis; 64 patients were symptomatic, and the remaining 23 were asymptomatic. In a univariate analysis, the assessed variables sex, BMI, drinking, and smoking (habit and amount of consumption) were associated with asymptomatic esophagitis (P < 0.05). Then, multivariate logistic analysis performed using these four variables demonstrated that sex, BMI, and smoking (habit and number of cigarettes smoked daily) were significantly and in dependently associated with this disease (P < 0.05).

Smoking, male sex, and lower BMI are independent factors associated with asymptomatic esophagitis. Since no information is available on the natural history of this disease, we should pay attention to patients with these characteristics.