Spectrum of Upper Gastrointestinal Diseases in Patients Presenting with Dyspepsia-A First Report from Myanmar

Dyspepsia is associated with a variety of benign and malignant gastrointestinal diseases. The aim of the study was to evaluate the spectrum of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings in patients presenting with dyspepsia.

This is a retrospective study on consecutive patients with dyspepsia undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at the gastroenterology department of Thingangyun General Hospital, University of Medicine 2, Yangon, from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019.

In this study, 1650 patients were recruited retrospectively. Forty-nine patients were excluded due to incomplete data entry. There were 883 female (55%) out of 1601 patients. The mean age was 50.5 ± 15.82 years. The endoscopic findings were gastric/duodenal erosion (10.8%), erosive esophagitis (5.1%), duodenal ulcer (3.5%), gastric ulcer (4.4%), gastroesophageal varices (3.49%), esophageal cancer (0.8%), and gastric cancer (5.3%); in which early-onset gastric cancer contributed for 17.6%. Miscellaneous diagnoses were 4.2%, and findings were normal at 62.5%. Significant endoscopy findings were diagnosed in patients over 45 years of age. Helicobacter pylori infection was found in 40.6% of the total study population, 52% of gastric cancers, 50% of gastric ulcers, 51.2% of duodenal ulcers, and 49.3% of gastric/duodenal erosions.

Significant endoscopic findings in dyspeptic patients are frequent in our data. A considerable number of gastric cancer were diagnosed in patients under 45 years of age. H. pylori is prevalent in our dyspepsia population. The age threshold of 40-45 years for both males and females could be reasonable for the use of endoscopy in patients with dyspepsia in our population.