HOSPITAL DISCHARGES RESULTING FROM ESOPHAGITIS AMONG MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES

Despite the frequent occurrence of gastroesophageal reflux disease, un til now only very few studies have dealt with the epidemiology of this common disorder. The Health Care Financing Administration compiles an nually 10 million records of all hospital discharges among Medicare be neficiaries distributed throughout the United States. The purpose of t he present study was to take advantage of this large data set and anal yze the demographic characteristics of patients discharged with esopha gitis, esophageal ulcer, or esophageal stricture. The hospital dischar ge rates of an three diagnoses showed an age-related rise, the rise be ing most pronounced for esophageal stricture and, less significant, es ophageal ulcer. The marked age dependency of esophageal stricture and ulcer may reflect the time necessary for complications to develop. Whi le simple esophagitis affected women more frequently than men, signifi cantly more men contracted its severe forms involving ulcers and stric tures. All forms were more common in whites than blacks, and living in the southern parts of the United States was associated with an increa sed risk for esophagitis and strictures. The data suggest that besides varying exposure to environmental risk factors, differences in the pa thophysiology among demographically stratified groups contribute to th e occurrence of esophagitis.