Third-year Mather Gastroenterology fellow heads study on Barrett’s esophagus in women
Karina Fatakhova, MD, a third-year fellow in Mather Hospital’s Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, was published in the journal Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News for her work investigating the recent rise in females of Barrett’s esophagus, a disease typically associated with males.
“The rise in Barrett’s among females over the past decade, coupled with a concurrent increase in the prevalence of GERD and obesity among females with Barrett’s esophagus, suggests a potentially changing landscape in the gender-based disparities of this disease,” Dr. Fatakhova, lead investigator of the study, was quoted in the article. “While males have traditionally warranted greater awareness for the development of Barrett’s, the data suggest that the risk in females is not insignificant.”
“Dr. Fatakhova and her co-investigators conducted a retrospective review of the National Inpatient Sample database to identify patients diagnosed with BE from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2019. Of the more than one million patients hospitalized with BE in the 10-year National Cohort Study, 486,751 (40.4%) were females.,” the article stated.
In addition, according to the article, compared with males diagnosed with BE, females diagnosed with the condition also had a higher frequency of GERD and obesity. “There also was a significant upward trend in the number of patients identifying as smokers among females from 2009 to 2019, but the prevalence is still lower than it is in than males (23% vs. 33%; P<0.001), Dr. Fatakhova said.”
“Currently, the guidelines say that screening endoscopy should be preserved for male patients with chronic GERD symptoms, plus three other risk factors,” Dr. Fatakhova told Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News. “We think that females with high suspicion of obesity, with smoking history, and chronic GERD symptoms should also be considered.”