The prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus in patients undergoing gastroscopy may be influenced by possible referral bias.
To present the prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus from the the Canadian Adult Dyspepsia Empirical Therapy Prompt Endoscopy study and to explore potential risk factors for its presence.
Patients had not been on treatment for dyspepsia for 2-4 weeks prior to endoscopy, which was performed within 10 working days of presentation.
Barrett's oesophagus was endoscopically suspected in 53 of 1040 cases (5%) and histologically confirmed by the presence of intestinal metaplasia in 25 (2.4%). The prevalence of biopsy-proven Barrett's oesophagus was 4% in patients with dominant reflux-like symptoms. Sixty-four percent with confirmed Barrett's oesophagus had dominant reflux-like symptoms compared with 37% without Barrett's oesophagus. Barrett's oesophagus was more common in patients >50 years of age; 68% of cases were males. The mean duration of symptoms was 10 years, yet 16% had symptoms of