A description of eosinophilic esophagitis in the Southwestern state of Nevada

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a rare immune-mediated esophageal disorder that has been documented worldwide. Prior to this study, eosinophilic esophagitis had not been described in the Southwestern state of Nevada. Records containing positive eosinophilic esophagitis diagnosis codes were extracted from a large hospital utilization database and yielded over 2,000 records over 5 years (2013–2017).

Methods

Descriptive statistics were used to identify the overall population demography. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with an eosinophilic esophagitis event in Nevada.

Results

Males were 2.93 times more likely (95% CI: 2.53, 3.41; p < 0.001) to have had an eosinophilic esophagitis event when compared to females. Older age was also significant; for each additional year in age the odds of having an eosinophilic esophagitis visit increased by 30% (95% CI: 1.28, 1.31; p < 0.001). Finally, individuals living in the Northern region had 1.95 higher odds of an eosinophilic esophagitis event than their Southern counterparts (OR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.68, 2.26; p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The climate in Nevada makes this study novel, as the climate is unlike other studies reporting EoE disease prevalence. Previous atopic studies in Nevada report that warmer, drier weather leads to increased atopic illness and perennial pollen, which ultimately may be contributing to the higher than expected number of EoE records identified. Given the well-documented relationship between EoE and atopy, Nevada may be a susceptible region for this condition and an ideal location for future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Eosinophilic esophagitis
• epidemiology
• biostatistics
• demographic analysis
• atopic illness

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Center for Health Information Analysis for the data.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

This data is available through the Center for Health Information Analysis (CHIA) (https://chiaunlv.com/HealthFacilityData/AcquiringData_Services.php).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this project. The contents of the paper and the opinions expressed within are those of the authors, and it was the decision of the authors to submit the manuscript for publication.