Abstract
Objective: In recent years, due to the westernization of the Japanese diet and other factors, increasing tendencies have been observed for reflux esophagitis and esophageal herniation over a wide age range from young people to the elderly. We report the findings of a study on health check-up examinees whose objective was to examine associations between these diseases and check-up results and diet.
Methods: The subjects were 1,060 persons who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in a health check-up at our association from April-December 2014. Defining reflux esophagitis as mucosal damage such as reddening and erosion in the lower esophagus, we calculated relative risk rates by the proportional hazards model for the health check-up items of obesity, fatty liver, LDL-C, triglycerides and HbA1c as well as the medical interview items of nocturnal eating habit, taking a meal before going to bed, drinking habit and alcohol amount, considering p<0.05 to indicate significance.
Results: There was much reflux esophagitis and esophageal herniation in men and by age group, reflux esophagitis was most frequent in the 70s (23.8%), followed by 39 years or younger (22.7%) and the 50s (18.1%). There was no significant difference by age group for esophageal herniation. The risk factors for developing reflux esophagitis were obesity, fatty liver, LDL-C, triglycerides, nocturnal eating habit, taking a meal before going to bed, drinking habit, and alcohol amount (large) but in the present study, the check-up item of HbA1c and the medical interview item of (alcohol amount <360 mL) were not risk factors according to the analysis. The risk factors for esophageal herniation were fatty liver, triglycerides and nocturnal eating habit.
Conclusion: The results of the present analysis suggested that there were close associations between reflux esophagitis and esophageal herniation and diet and eating habits. In the future it will be necessary provide dietary guidance not only to prevent lifestyle-related diseases but also the development of these esophageal diseases.
