Spectrum of Findings in Patients Presenting for Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy at a Tertiary Care Hospital and the Influence of Age and Gender

Abstract

Objective: To determine the spectrum of findings in patients presenting for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy and investigate role of age and gender.
 Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
 Place and Duration of Study: Department of Gastroenterology & Internal Medicine, Combined Military Hospital Kharian, from Jul 2017 to Mar 2019.
 Methodology: The data regarding 638 consecutive patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in the department were collected from the computer-based database and patients were stratified into two groups according to their age: ≤50 and >50 years.
 Results: The mean age was 50.2 ± 17.4 (range: 7-100) years. There were 431 males and 207 females. The commonest presenting complaint was decompensated chronic liver disease (CLD) 162 (25.4%). The upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was normal in 306 (48%) and abnormal in 332 (52%) patients. The commonest abnormality seen on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was esophageal varices seen in 167 (26.2%) followed by non-specific gastropathy, and hiatal hernia seen in 28 (4.4%) and 21 (3.3%) patients respectively. No significant differences were observed among males and females for a positive upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Significantly large number of patients of age >50 years had an abnormal upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (p<0.001). The commonest upper gastrointestinal endoscopic abnormalities were similar in both genders and age-groups.
 Conclusion: The commonest finding on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were esophageal varices and non-specific gastropathies. Females and patients ≤50 years had a higher prevalence of a normal upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The commonly observed upper gastrointestinal endoscopy findings were generally similar among the genders and the age-groups.

Epidemiology of premalignant and malignant upper gastrointestinal lesions among patients presenting from a rural community in Karachi, Pakistan

“…This finding is in contrast to a previous study conducted among rural population in Hyderabad which reported squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus as the most common type of upper GI malignancy. 21 Such differences can possibly be explained by ethnic and geographical differences, requiring more in-depth analysis in future studies.…”