MedWire News: Asian Americans are significantly less likely to develop Barrett's oesophagus than their non-Asian American counterparts, US researchers have found.

Barrett's oesophagus is a condition that can develop in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in which cells that line the foodpipe become damaged from long-term exposure to stomach acid. This damage to the foodpipe cells is associated with an increased risk of oesophageal cancer.

"Traditionally, it is believed that Barrett's oesophagus is rare in Asians compared to whites...However, recent studies in Asia suggest that the prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus in Asians may be higher and comparable to whites, possibly due to "Westernisation" of diet in certain Asian populations," explain Dr Mindie Nguyen, from Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, and team.

However, they add: "Little is known about the prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus in Asians living in the USA."

The researchers therefore studied data on more than 5000 patients who underwent oesophageal examinations at a community-based gastroenterology clinic in northern California between 2000 and 2006. In total, 3829 Asian Americans and 1464 non-Asian Americans were included in the analysis.

The team found that 2.1% of non-Asian Americans were diagnosed with Barrett's oesophagus compared with just 0.8% of Asian Americans.

After accounting for factors such as age, smoking, gender and alcohol consumption, the researchers calculated that non-Asian Americans were more than 3 times more likely to develop Barrett's oesophagus than their Asian-American counterparts.

"Our results show that the presence of Barrett's oesophagus is uncommon in Asians, nearly three-fold less than the proportion of 2.1% in non-Asians," Dr Nguyen and team write in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

They add that the findings may have "important implications in the design and implementation of screening and surveillance policies... [as] routine screening for Barrett's oesophagus in Asians with non-specific upper gastrointestinal symptoms may not be cost-effective or clinically useful."