Korean J Neurogastroenterol Motil.
2004 Dec;10(2):100-104.
The Natural History of Asymptomatic Reflux Esophagitis: A retrospective study from periodic health check-up program
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jjkim@smc.samsung.co.kr
- 2Department of Internal Medicine, Masan Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Masan, Korea.
Abstract
- BACKGROUND/AIMS
The natural history of endoscopically proven reflux esophagitis without any gastrointestinal symptom is not clear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the natural course of asymptomatic reflux esophagitis without any specific treatment.
METHODS
We retrospectively examined the medical records of asymptomatic patients who had been diagnosed by endoscopy in a routine health check-up program. We recruited the patients who had at least three years follow-up of endoscopy. The patients with typical reflux symptoms such as heartburn or acid regurgitation were excluded. We also excluded the patients with a previous medication exposure to a H2-receptor antagonist or a proton pump inhibitor. The severity of change of the grade of reflux esophagitis was compared using a modified Savary-Miller classification system.
RESULTS
Eighty-one patients were included. Fifty-five patients (67.9%) were classified as having grade 1 reflux esophagitis and twenty six patients were classified as having grade 2 esophagitis. There was no patient with grade 3 or 4 reflux esophagitis. At the end of the follow-up period, 91.4% of the patients showed improvement in the grade of reflux esophagitis and no change was observed in 4.9% of the patients. Only three patients (3.7%) were aggravated in reflux esophagitis grading. Smoking, alcohol, exercise, overweight, hyper-cholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and diabetes mellitus were not significantly related to the change of reflux esophagitis.
CONCLUSIONS
Most patients with asymptomatic reflux esophagitis showed improvement or a stable course during three years of endoscopic follow-up.
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