Eosinophilic Esophagitis Is Rarely Continually Symptomatic 10 Years After an Initial Treatment Course in Adults

Despite its initial description over 25 years ago, there is little known about the course of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) after an initial course of medical or dietary treatment. We aim to assess the long-term symptomology and quality of life (QoL) metrics in patients 10 years after initial treatment for eosinophilic esophagitis.

Inclusion criteria: single center study of EoE patients diagnosed over 10 years ago with completion of an 18-question structured telephone interview. A cohort of patient's prospectively underwent an esophageal barium exam, esophageal sponge cytology, and evaluation by a esophagologist at greater than 10 years' time since original diagnosis.

A total of 54 patients were included in the study. The average age at follow-up was 55.0, with the majority male (64.8%). At the original diagnosis, 62.9% and 37.0% were initially treated with topical steroids and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), respectively,compared to 59.3% and 7.4% after 10 years, and 7.4% of patients reported a history of dilatations. Only 11.8% noted avoidance of trigger foods, with 62.7% noting an unlimited diet without caution. QoL decrease secondary to EoE was noted to be trivial to minimal in 56.9% of patients, mild in 19.6%, moderate in 15.7% and severe in 7.8%. In the prospective follow-up cohort, the results of telephone survey results matched the direct physician-obtained interview in 88% of cases.

Ten years after diagnosis, treated EoE is rarely continually symptomatic, requires mainly PPI-based therapies and is associated with a minimal decrease in QoL scores.