ROLE OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) IN ASYMPTOMATIC EROSIVE ESOPHAGITIS (AEE)

Abstract

SUMMARY G astroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common gastrointestinal diagnosis recorded in outpatient clinics that affects several aspects of everyday life. GERD is a condition, which develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications. Silent gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disorder that manifests with erosive esophagitis in asymptomatic undergoing screening endoscopy and the severity of esophageal injury graded according to the Los Angeles classification. This study aimed to detect the role of Helicobacter pylori infection and body mass index (BMI) in asymptomatic erosive esophagitis (AEE). This study was performed on 60 subjects recruited from Endoscopic Unit and Internal Medicine Department of Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, during the period from May 2012 to June 2013.They were divided into the following two groups: Group (I): Thirty patients with no esophageal symptoms subjected to upper GIT endoscopy for other causes. Group (II): Thirty patients with esophageal symptoms (heartburn and / or regurgitation) subjected to upper GIT endoscopy. As regard sex distribution, there were higher percentage of males (63.33%) compared to females (36.67%) in group I while in group II, the percentage of females (80%) was higher than percentage of males (20%) in the same group with statistically significant difference (p= 0.001). As regard age, there was higher mean age in group I (43.767±12.011) compared to mean age (30.633±11.034) in group II with statistically significant difference between both study groups (p<0.001). As regard clinical presentation, the most common reported manifestations were heartburn (93.33%), regurgitation (96.67%) and epigastric pain (46.67%) in group II with highly statistically significant difference (p=0.000). It is noted that patients complaining of heartburn and regurgitation were positive for H. pylori. As regard BMI, high statistically significant difference between the study groups with higher BMI in group (I) compared to group (II). The relation between BMI and grades of erosive esophagitis in group (I) shows no statistically significant difference (p=0.884). As regard endoscopic examination, 13 patients in group (I) with percentage (43.33%) had hiatus hernia while no cases with hiatus hernia in group (II) was reported. This was of highly statistically significant difference (p=0.005) between the study groups. Regarding grades of erosive esophg