Long-term complications to reflux disease in community practice. A 17-year cohort study of 4706 patients.

Objective: To examine the risk of developing strictures in patients with erosive and non-erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease in a community-based setting, since controlled trials indicate that the use of proton pump inhibitors renders the risk of strictures insignificant.

Material And Methods: A 17-year cohort study of 4706 patients referred to endoscopy due to upper GI symptoms, with a population comparison cohort of 47,060 individuals. All patients were followed and treated according to prevailing guidelines by their usual care provider.

Unexplained chest/epigastric pain in patients with normal endoscopy as a predictor for ischemic heart disease and mortality: a Danish 10-year cohort study.

Background: Normal upper endoscopy may be a marker of ischemic heart disease in patients with unexplained chest/epigastric pain.

Methods: We examined the 10-year risk of ischemic heart disease and mortality in a cohort of 386 Danish patients with chest/epigastric pain, normal upper endoscopy, and no prior hospital discharge diagnosis of ischemic heart disease (defined as patients with unexplained chest/epigastric pain), compared with 3,793 population controls matched by age, gender, and residence. Outcome data were obtained from population-based health registries.

Risk of gastrointestinal cancer in patients with unexplained chest/epigastric pain and normal upper endoscopy: a Danish 10-year follow-up study.

Unexplained chest/epigastric pain is a common symptom in the general population. However, it has not previously been studied whether such pain could be a marker of subsequent gastrointestinal cancer. We aimed to estimate the risk of gastrointestinal cancers in a Danish 10-year follow-up study among patients with chest/epigastric pain, normal upper endoscopy, and no prior discharge diagnosis of ischemic heart disease (N = 386), compared with population controls (N = 3860).

Inflammatory bowel diseases, 5-aminosalicylic acid and sulfasalazine treatment and risk of acute pancreatitis: a population-based case-control study.

Objectives: Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases are suggested to have an increased risk of acute pancreatitis. Although azathioprine and glucocorticoids are risk factors for acute pancreatitis, the relation is poorly understood, in particular the role of 5-aminosalicylic acid and sulfasalazine treatment. To clarify these relations, we conducted a population-based case-control study.