A study has revealed that excess fat around the middle or visceral fat is a risk factor for reflux erosive esophagitis among adults.
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| Photo: Visceral Fat | InStyleHealth |
What Is Reflux Erosive Esophagitis?
Reflux erosive esophagitis is a medical condition
which is a severe reflux esophagitis characterized by mucosal breaks, like
erosions or ulcerations on endoscopy. There is little association between
endoscopic and histologic findings in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.
Usually, a reflux disease involves the distal 8-10 cm
of the esophagus and the gastroesophageal junction. The disease is
characterized as patchy in distribution.
Chronic symptoms or mucosal damage produced by the
abnormal reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus.
Reflux erosive esophagitis is an esophagitis in which
there is esophageal damage. Esophagitis is inflammation, irritation, or
swelling of the lining of the esophagus – this is the tube that runs the throat
to the stomach.
What Are The Symptoms of Reflux Erosive
Esophagitis?
Clinical researches indicate that the prevalent
symptoms of esophagitis are chest pain, dysphagia or swallowing discomfort, and
heartburn.
Other symptoms of esophagitis may include:
- Bleeding, seen either as blood in vomit or in stools (black or tarry stools)
- Burning sensation in the esophagus
- Difficulty when swallowing
- Feeling like something is stuck in your throat
What Are The Treatments for Reflux Erosive
Esophagitis?
Treatments available for reflux erosive esophagitis will
depend on the cause and may include the following medications:
- Acid-reducing medications, such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or H2 blockers, if GERD is the cause
- Antibiotics if a bacterial infection is the cause
- Pain medication or pain relievers
- Steroid medication to reduce inflammation
- While undergoing treatment, your doctor will also talk to you about lifestyle steps you can take to ease the discomfort of esophagitis.
Research covered 433 healthy adults with ages from
40-69 years old, where 234 are men and 199 are women. Experts looked at the potential
correlation between obesity-related factors, waist circumference, and body mass
index and the presence of reflux erosive esophagitis.
Median BMI, at baseline, abdominal diameter, TFA, VFA,
and the fat area ratio values were much higher in men than in women; however,
the median SFA was similar. Mean serum adiponectin level was significantly
lower in men.
The reflux erosive esophagitis had a prevalence of
27.2%. VFA came out higher in individuals with vs without erosive esophagitis. The
erosive esophagitis, in the same vein, was more frequently noted among
individuals with vs without visceral fat obesity.
With the multivariable logistic regression analysis,
visceral fat obesity revealed the strongest link to erosive esophagitis, among obesity-related
factors. Odds of having esophagitis were twice greater for individuals with vs without
visceral fat obesity.
The other factors independently correlated with
erosive esophagitis were daily alcohol intake, gastric atrophy open type, and
never-smoking history.
Source: Esophagus 2021;18:889-899