BMC Gastroenterology (Jul 2009)

Visceral obesity and the risk of Barrett's esophagus in Japanese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

  • Kirikoshi Hiroyuki,
  • Abe Yasunobu,
  • Goto Ayumu,
  • Takahashi Hirokazu,
  • Tokoro Chikako,
  • Koide Tomoko,
  • Fujita Koji,
  • Yoneda Kyoko,
  • Hosono Kunihiro,
  • Endo Hiroki,
  • Iida Hiroshi,
  • Inamori Masahiko,
  • Yoneda Masato,
  • Akiyama Tomoyuki,
  • Kobayashi Noritoshi,
  • Kubota Kensuke,
  • Saito Satoru,
  • Nakajima Atsushi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-230X-9-56
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
p. 56

Abstract

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Abstract Background The association between obesity and the risk of Barrett's esophagus (BE) is unclear. Furthermore, the association between visceral obesity and the risk of BE is entirely unknown. Methods We conducted a retrospective study in 163 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who underwent both endoscopy and abdominal CT at an interval of less than a year at our institution. BE was endoscopically diagnosed based on the Prague C & M Criteria. The surface areas of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were calculated from CT images at the level of the umbilicus. The correlations between the BMI, VAT, and SAT and the risk of BE were examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Sixty-nine of the 163 study participants (42.3%) were diagnosed to have endoscopic BE, which was classified as short-segment BE (SSBE) in almost all of the cases. There were no significant differences in the age or gender distribution between the groups with and without BE. According to the results of the univariate analysis, VAT was significantly associated with the risk of BE; the BMI tended to be higher in the group with BE than in the group without BE, but this relation did not reach statistical significance. VAT was independently associated with the risk of BE even after adjustment for the BMI. Conclusion In Japanese patients with NAFLD, obesity tended to be associated with the risk of BE, and this risk appeared to be mediated for the most part by abdominal visceral adiposity.