Barrett’s Esophagus in African Americans: A Case-Control Study: 59

Introduction: Barrett’s Esophagus (BE), a precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a disease of predominantly Caucasian men. BE is thought to be uncommon in African Americans (AA). There is sparse data about disease course and incidence of dysplasia and EAC in AA with BE. Our aim was to study the prevalence of dysplasia and progression to HGD and EAC in AA with BE and compare to Caucasian controls. Methods: All AA with BE seen between 2002 and 2013 with confirmed BE, i.e., specialized intestinal metaplasia were included. AA cases were matched 1: 4 to Caucasian controls. Variables such as age, gender, BMI, date of EGD, hiatal hernia size, BE length, and biopsy findings were noted. Progression to low grade dysplasia (LGD), high grade dysplasia (HGD) or EAC was evaluated during the follow-up. Results: A total of 52 AA with BE were identified and matched to 208 Caucasian controls. There were no significant differences between the two groups (Table 1). Patients without HGD/EAC on baseline biopsy and more than 1 year follow-up were included in progression analysis. There were 21 AA patients and 79 Caucasian controls with median follow-up of 38 months (P25, 75= 21, 70). There were no significant racial differences in progression to dysplasia and EAC (Table 2).Table 1Table 2Conclusion: This study includes the largest number of AA with confirmed BE reported so far. Interestingly, 46.2% of AA with BE in our study were women. There were no significant differences in the prevalence and incidence of dysplasia between AA and Caucasians with BE.