Cancer risk by length of Barrett’s esophagus in Japanese population: a nationwide multicenter retrospective cohort study

Background The cancer risk for each length of Barrett’s esophagus (BE) in Japanese is unknown. This nationwide, multi-institutional study aims to clarify the cancer risk by length of BE in the general Japanese population. Methods Consecutive subjects who underwent upper endoscopic screening at 17 centers between 2013 and 2017 and had at least one follow-up endoscopy by December 2022 were included. The presence/absence of BE and, if present, its length were retrospectively assessed using the retrieved endoscopic images recorded at baseline. Information on the subsequent occurrence of esophageal adenocarcinoma and other upper gastrointestinal cancers was also collected. Cancer incidence was calculated and expressed as %/year. Results A total of 33,478 subjects were enrolled, and 17,884 (53.4%), 10,641 (31.8%), 4889 (14.6%), and 64 (0.2%) were diagnosed as absent BE, BE