Sonnenberg A, et al. - Researchers sought to analyze the mutual effect of Helicobacter pylori infection and demographics of patients on Barrett metaplasia and reflux esophagitis diagnoses. They evaluated the influence of age, gender, ethnicity, and H. pylori status on occurrence of Barrett metaplasia or reflux esophagitis in a case-control study of 52,096 cases with Barrett metaplasia, 189,235 cases with reflux esophagitis, and 152,322 controls without any signs or symptoms suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The authors discovered that Barrett metaplasia was less frequent among East Asians and Hispanics than other ethnic groups residing in the US. In addition, reflux esophagitis was less common among East Asians, but more common among Hispanics. Findings suggested an association of both types of esophageal disease with lower prevalence rates of gastric H. pylori infection than controls, with 0.48, 0.44-0.53 for Barrett metaplasia and 0.60, 0.57-0.63 for reflux esophagitis. In older than younger and male, the prevalence rates of gastric H. pylori and both esophageal diseases were higher than in all ethnic groups of female patients. They found that gastric H. pylori infection, ethnicity, gender, and age all affect the occurrence of Barrett metaplasia, and reflux esophagitis.