Schatzki ring and Barrett's esophagus: do they occur together?

Our purpose was to determine the prevalence of Barrett's esophagus in the presence of Schatzki ring. We performed a retrospective case-control study with an endoscopic database. Barrett's esophagus was present in 3 of 409 (0.73%) patients with Schatzki ring and in 16 of 888 (1.80%) patients without Schatzki ring. Short segment Barrett's esophagus was present in 3 cases and 10 controls. Long segment Barrett's esophagus was present in no cases and six controls. Logistic regression models adjusting for the presence of a hiatal hernia revealed a significant decrease in the odds of Barrett's esophagus in cases compared to controls (OR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.87; P = 0.029). Barrett's esophagus is less prevalent in patients with Schatzki ring compared to patients without Schatzki ring. Long segment Barrett's esophagus was not observed in patients with Schatzki ring. A responsible protective effect or mutually exclusive pathophysiology should be considered.