MedWire News: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease patients with a high body mass index are no more likely to develop the food pipe condition Barrett's oesophagus than their thinner counterparts, study results show.

Barrett's oesophagus is a condition in which cells that line the food pipe are damaged by long-term exposure to digestive acid escaping from the stomach. The condition is associated with an increased risk of oesophageal cancer.

Dr David Forman and colleagues from the University of Leeds in the UK explain that a high body mass index is associated with an increased risk of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

But they add that it is not known whether reflux patients with a high body mass index face an increased risk of Barrett's oesophagus, compared with reflux patients with a low body mass index.

To find out, the researchers examined data from 10 published studies that investigated the association between body mass index and Barrett's oesophagus.

Analysis of the pooled results from these studies confirmed that people with a high body mass index have an increased risk of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

However, the team found no evidence to suggest that a high body mass index was an independent risk factor for Barrett's oesophagus in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease patients.

"This systematic review... provides evidence that increasing body mass index does not present an increased risk of Barrett's esophagus above what would be expected from gastro-oesophageal reflux disease alone," Dr Forman and team conclude in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

They add that further research is now needed to examine whether body mass index is associated with an individual's risk of developing oesophageal cancer.