Aim: To investigate the epidemiology and characteristics of Barrett's esophagus (BE) in China and compare with cases in the west.
Methods: Studies were retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure and PubMed databases using the terms "Barrett" and "Barrett AND China", respectively, as well as published studies about BE in China from 2000 to 2011. The researchers reviewed the titles and abstracts of all search results to determine whether or not the literature was relevant to the current topic of this research. The references listed in the studies were also searched. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the literature were appropriately established, and the data reported in the selected studies were analyzed. Finally, a meta-analysis was performed.
Results: The current research included 3873 cases of BE from 69 studies. The endoscopic detection rate of BE in China was 1%. The ratio of male to female cases was 1.781 to 1, and the average age of BE patients was 49.07 ± 5.09 years. Island-type and short-segment BE were the most common endoscopic manifestations, accounting for 4.48% and 80.3%, respectively, of all cases studied. Cardiac-type BE was observed in 40.0% of the cases, representing the most common histological characteristic of the condition. Cancer incidence was 1.418 per 1000 person-years.
Conclusion: Average age of BE patients in China is lower than in Western countries. Endoscopic detection and cancer incidence were also lower in China.
Keywords: Barrett’s esophagus; Cancer incidence; China; Epidemiology; Meta-analysis.