Objective: To investigate clinical and endoscopic characteristics of reflux esophagitis (RE) in Chinese.
Methods: 1 827 patients with RE, diagnosed by endoscopy in the past 10 years, were divided into different grades according to Los Angeles System and Chinese Standard. A part of them underwent esophageal manometry, 24-hour pH monitoring, and 24-hour bilirubin monitoring. The relationship between age, sex, symptom, accompanied diseases and each examinations were analyzed.
Results: RE was 2.02% of the total endoscopy number, and male vs female was 3.9:1, mean age was (52.02 +/- 14.38) years old. Only 36.29% of RE patients have typical reflux symptom. Patients with light mordent (Los Angeles System A, B and Chinese Standard I) RE were more than those with severe RE. Both of the time of esophageal acid exposure and total percent time bilirubin absorbance >or=0.14 for RE was significantly more than normal (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: The incidence of RE in Chinese is lower than that in Western and the severity is less. Most of RE are male and aged. There is a close association between RE and both of gastroesophageal reflux and duodenogastroesophageal reflux. Endoscopy is very important for diagnosis of RE.