Impact of Metabolic Health and Its Changes on Erosive Esophagitis Remission: A Cohort Study

We aim to compare the remission of erosive esophagitis (EE) among individuals with different phenotypes based on their metabolic health and obesity status and investigate the impact of changes in metabolic health on the EE remission.

Asymptomatic adults (n = 16 845) with EE at baseline, who underwent follow-up esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) were categorized into 4 groups as follows: metabolically healthy (MH) nonobese, metabolically unhealthy (MU) nonobese, MH obese, and MU obese. EE was defined as grade A or higher mucosal breaks observed using esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

During a median follow-up of 2.2 years, the remission rates of EE were 286.4/10³, 260.1/10³, 201.5/10³, and 219.9/10³ person-years in MH nonobese, MU nonobese, MH obese, and MU obese groups, respectively. Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for EE remission among the MH nonobese, MU nonobese, and MH obese groups versus that of the MU obese group were 1.30 (1.23-1.37), 1.17 (1.12-1.23), and 0.98 (0.90-1.06), respectively, whereas those of the persistent MH, progression of MH to MU, and remission of MU to MH compared with the persistent MU group were 1.37 (1.23-1.52), 1.15 (1.01-1.30), and 1.28 (1.12-1.46), respectively. Increased EE remission in the persistent MH group was consistently observed in individuals with and without obesity (or abdominal obesity).

Metabolic health and nonobesity independently and favorably impact EE remission. Maintaining normal weight and healthy metabolic status may contribute to EE remission.