Atrophic Gastritis Symptoms and Presentations
Gastric Symptoms
- Atrophic gastritis is typically asymptomatic and may go undiagnosed, or present with nonspecific symptoms that occur later in the disease course, including epigastric pain or discomfort, nausea and vomiting, early satiety, bloating and abdominal distension, heartburn or acid reflux symptoms, and dyspepsia that doesn't respond to standard treatments, according to the American Gastroenterological Association 1, 2
Extragastric Manifestations
- Iron deficiency anemia presenting as fatigue, weakness, and pale skin occurs in up to 50% of patients with corpus-predominant atrophic gastritis and often presents earlier than B12 deficiency, as reported by the American Gastroenterological Association 4, 5
- Vitamin B12 deficiency causes severe weakness, fatigue, and neurological symptoms, particularly in autoimmune gastritis, according to the American Gastroenterological Association 1, 2
- Pernicious anemia is a late-stage manifestation of autoimmune gastritis, characterized by megaloblastic anemia, as noted by the American Gastroenterological Association 2
- Symptoms of autoimmune thyroid disease are present in up to one-third of patients with autoimmune gastritis, according to the American Gastroenterological Association 1, 6
- Manifestations of other autoimmune conditions, including type 1 diabetes mellitus and Addison's disease, may also occur, as reported by the American Gastroenterological Association 5
Incidental Findings
- Incidentally discovered gastric neuroendocrine tumors are typically asymptomatic small nodules <10 mm in the corpus or fundus, as noted by the American Gastroenterological Association 4, 5