Time was analysed in ‘decades’, which although not perfect 10 year intervals (Table 1) were felt to be useful intervals for analysis. Diagnostic categories were treated as categorical variables and analysed by frequency, as percentage of records available, and by logistic regression with sex, age less than 45 or 60 years, endoscopist and decade as independent variables. Significance testing was carried out using the χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test as appropriate and P < 0.05 considered significant.
Table 1 Patient characteristics and indication for endoscopy, by decade
1977–1985a 1987–1996 1997–2006 2007–2014
n 1674 2627 3388 9264
Male: female 998:569 1606–945 1771–1462 4445:3977 <0.0001
Female % 36 37 45 47
Age (median, IQR) 33, 26–46 35, 27–45 35, 27–47 39, 29–54 0.001
Age groups in years:
 Child (under 16) 13 (1) 31 (1) 66 (3) 311 (4)
 16–44 888 (72) 1828 (74) 1697 (68) 4646 (57)
 45–59 215 (17) 434 (17) 464 (19) 1697 (21)
 60 and over 121 (10) 192 (8) 277 (11) 1453 (18) <0.0001
Indication:
 Pain 1192 (71) 1957 (75) 1.912 (56) 4566 (49) <0.0001
 Dysphagia 64 (4) 99 (4) 222 (8) 961 (11) <0.0001
 Haematemesis 193 (12) 194 (8) 276 (22) 1062 (12) <0.0001
 Anaemia 30 (2) 63 (3) 14 (1) 187 (2) <0.0001
Percentages are shown in brackets
aNo data from 1986 retrieved, and the last decade is only 8 years so the decades are therefore not uniform