Objective      To investigate the relationship between alcohol drinking and Barrett’s esophagus.       Methods      Papers on correlation between alcohol drinking and Barrett’s esophagus were systematically retrieved from CBM

CNKI

PUBMED

MEDLINE and EMBASE. Academic levels of these papers included in this study were assessed according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Meta analysis was carried out according to study type

geographical factor

data source and drinking types to study the relationship.       Results      There were 16 articles (13

case-control studies

and 3 cohort studies) included with a total number of 3 961 cases of Barrett’s esophagus and 11 748 cases in control. Our analysis showed that the value of OR in cohort studies was 1.27 with 95% CI of 1.03 to 1.58 (

P

=0.03) when compared with the nondrinkers. For Asian drinkers

alcohol drinking increased the risk of Barrett’s esophagus by 47% (OR=1.47

95%CI=1.10 to 1.97

P

=0.009)

but alcohol reduced the risk by 17% in American drinkers (OR=0.83

95%CI=0.71 to 0.96

P

=0.02). No significant difference was seen in other subgroups(

P

0.05).       Conclusion      Alcohol drinking is an risk factor for the mortality of Barrett’s esophagus

especially for Asian drinkers.