BERLIN — Women with gastroesophageal reflux disease had a lower prevalence of severe esophageal erosion than did men in an analysis of more than 6,000 patients.
“The lower prevalence of severe erosive changes in women suggests they respond differently to reflux, which may reflect genetically determined differences in visceral sensitivity,” Dr. Hubert Mönnikes and his associates said in a poster presented at the 14th United European Gastroenterology Week.
The researchers used data that had been collected on 3,398 women and 3,412 men with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) who had been enrolled in any of 14 studies that tested various treatments for GERD during 2001-2004. The extent of esophageal erosion in each patient was determined by endoscopy, and was graded using the Los Angeles classification.
In the total group, about 14% of patients had nonerosive reflux disease, and the remaining 86% had some degree of erosive esophagitis. The extent of erosion was limited, grade A in about 34%, grade B in 41%, grade C in 9%, and the most extensive erosion, grade D, in about 2% of patients, reported Dr. Mönnikes, a gastroenterologist at Charité Hospital, Berlin.
Of the 964 patients with nonerosive GERD, 61% were women; there were nearly 60% more women with no esophageal erosion, compared with men.
Among the other patients who had some degree of erosion, women tended to have milder disease and men more severe disease. Among the approximately 2,300 patients with the most limited grade A erosions were 44% of all women with erosions and 35% of the men, the researchers said.
The 800 patients with the most extensive grade C or D lesions included 17% of the men and 9% of the women. More severe erosions occurred about 60% more often in men than in women.