Large waistline ups risk of Barrett's esophagus

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Excessive abdominal fat appears to significantly increase the risk of Barrett's esophagus, a condition in which cells that line the esophagus become abnormal, which may progress to esophageal cancer, a study shows.

"The evidence is becoming pretty strong that the location of excess fat is at least as important as the amount," senior investigator Dr. Thomas L. Vaughan told Reuters Health. "In fact, these results may partially explain why men experience so much higher risk than women of developing Barrett's esophagus and esophageal (cancer)."

Vaughan, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, and colleagues evaluated 193 people that had signs of Barrett's esophagus and 211 control subjects that did not.

All measures of abdominal adiposity were related to Barrett's esophagus risk, they report in the medical journal Gastroenterology. That is, people who were particularly large around the middle had 2.4-fold greater odds of Barrett's esophagus than people who were not as large around the middle.

At present, Vaughan said, it is not well understood how abdominal obesity acts to increase esophageal cancer risk.

Nevertheless, he concluded, "Even without this understanding, losing weight may prove to be an effective preventive measure for Barrett's and esophageal cancer."

SOURCE: Gastroenterology, August 2007.