Dysphagia is associated with major esophageal motility disorders in the UAE: a retrospective cohort study from a tertiary care center in Abu Dhabi.

BACKGROUND

The lack of data on the relationship between dysphagia and major esophageal motility disorders (MEMDs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has presented challenges for clinical management of dysphagia. This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients with dysphagia and MEMDs.

METHODS

We created a retrospective cohort using data from all patients who underwent High Resolution Esophageal Manometry (HREM) at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical Center (SSMC) for different indications between July 2020 and February 2023. The patients were categorized into two groups based on whether findings included dysphagia or not. Data on age, gender, body mass index (BMI), nationality, opioid use, comorbidities and their endoscopic and or imaging findings were collected from electronic health records retrospectively. HREM was performed based on Chicago Classification version 3.0 protocol.

RESULTS

There were 125 patients who underwent HREM; 104 patients met the inclusion criteria (48 men and 56 women) of which 64 (61.5%, 64/104) had dysphagia and 37 (35.6%, 37/104) had superimposed major motility disorder. Ineffective esophageal motility (IEM) was most common (37.8%, 14/37), followed by achalasia (27.0%, 10/37), esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO) (24%, 9/37), Aperistalsis (8.1%, 3/37), and 2.7% (1/37) had Distal Esophageal Spasm (DES). There was a statistically significant relationship with gender and nationality among those with and without a MEMDs who had dysphagia (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study in the UAE to investigate the association between non-obstructive dysphagia and MEMDs. It demonstrated that dysphagia as a presenting symptom is more likely to be associated with an MEMD on HREM.