Gastroscopic results for the asymptomatic, average-risk population in Northern China: a cross-sectional study of 60,519 adults

Background Studies on average-risk individuals undergoing gastroscopy screening in China are scarce. Objective To determine and compare the prevalence of lesions found by gastroscopy and the association between sex, age, Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric premalignant lesions. Methods Gastroscopy results were analysed for 60,519 individuals enrolled from January 2013 to December 2019. Results The median age was 49.84 years (SD, 9.47 years) for women and 48.90 years (SD, 8.82 years) for men, and the ratio of females to males was 35.10% (n = 21,240) to 64.90% (n = 39,279). The most common lesions detected by endoscopy were chronic gastritis, reflux oesophagitis, duodenitis and gastric polyps, detected in 24.48%, 10.28%, 3.96% and 3.61%, respectively. Oesophageal cancer and gastric cancer were detected in 0.33% and 0.47% of patients, respectively. The prevalence of chronic gastritis increased with age and was higher in males than in females (26.47% [n = 10396] versus 20.80% [n = 4417], p < .001). The prevalence of gastric ulcers was highest in the elderly group, and the H. pylori infection rate of gastric ulcer patients was 47.28%. The prevalence of gastric polyps was higher in females than in males (5.47% [n = 1161] versus 2.61% [n = 1024], p < .001), and the H. pylori infection rate in inflammatory polyp patients was higher than that in fundic gland polyp patients (28.32% [n = 442] versus 7.29% [n = 29], p < .001). Conclusion The prevalence of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic lesions is high in the asymptomatic population undergoing physical examination and is associated with sex, age, and H. pylori infection.