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Updated: Feb 18, 2026
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Published on: August 25, 2015
Increased Risk for Colon Polyps in Patients with Reflux Disease
Amnon Sonnenberg1,2, Kevin O Turner3, Robert M Genta3,4
1Section of Gastroenterology, Portland VA Medical Center, P3-GI, Portland, OR, 97239, USA. sonnenbe@ohsu.edu.
Background:
Previous studies have found an increased risk for colonic neoplasm in patients with Barrett's esophagus. It is unknown whether such risk applies similarly to other types of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Aims:
To test whether GERD represents a risk factor for the occurrence of colon polyps.
Methods:
The Miraca Life Sciences Database is a large national electronic repository of histopathologic records of patients distributed throughout the entire USA. A case-control study evaluated whether presence of (1) Barrett's metaplasia, (2) erosive esophagitis on endoscopy or histologic signs of reflux esophagitis, (3) clinical diagnosis of GERD, (4) any type of GERD affected the occurrence hyperplastic polyps (HP), sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSA/P), or tubular adenomas (TA) among 228,506 subjects undergoing bidirectional endoscopy. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for the risk of HP, TA or SSA/P associated with various types of GERD and adjusted for age, sex, and presence of H. pylori.
Results:
The analysis revealed positive associations between GERD and all types of colon polyps. These associations applied similarly to HP (1.47, 1.44-1.50), TA (1.30, 1.27-1.32), and SSA/P (1.52, 1.46-1.58). They also applied to different forms of GERD, showing a trend toward stronger associations, that is higher odds ratios, with Barrett's metaplasia or erosive esophagitis than clinical diagnosis of GERD.
Conclusion:
All types of GERD represent a risk factor for the occurrence of different colon polyps, such as HP, TA, or SSA/P.
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