Overuse of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy among young dyspeptic patients: A retrospective analysis in Karachi

Background: Dyspepsia, one of the most commonly encountered complaints across the world, can manifest as epigastric pain, burning sensations, bloating, or nausea. The primary aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of endoscopic findings in younger dyspeptic patients and compare these findings with those observed in aged people. Additionally, the research also aimed to assess the overuse of endoscopic procedures in these patients and to probably redefine standards for this invasive procedure in our setting. Materials and Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of patients who had endoscopy for dyspepsia. The patients were categorized into low risk and high risk based on the age and the presence or absence of alarming features. The chi-square test was used to analyze the data. Results: The sample for this study includes 183 individuals with a mean age of 39.4 (±12.4); out of which 89 (%) were males and 94 (%) were females. Patients aged 45 years or older were at higher risk of having significant findings on endoscopy (18/51 patients, 35.3%) compared to patients younger than 45 years (20/132 patients, 15.1%; P = 0.003). Conclusions: Endoscopy in younger dyspeptic patients was found to have a low yield. Consequently, in these patients, approaches other than endoscopic that are less invasive or noninvasive should be considered for diagnosis and treatment before resorting to endoscopy.