## 3 Results
### Correlation of Disease Progression According to Therapeutic Approach

Table 6: Correlation of disease progression in the second subgroup, which received PPI therapy. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Mean** & **Std. Deviation** & **Std. Error Mean** & \(p\) **T0–6 m** & \(p\) **T0–9 m** & \(p\) **6–9 m** \\ \hline MCH & & & & 0.093 & 0.000 * & 0.000 * \\ \hline T0 & 19.0688 & 1.58833 & 0.24509 & & & \\
6 months & 19.9793 & 4.65457 & 0.71822 & & & \\
9 months & 21.8381 & 3.31325 & 0.51125 & & & \\ \hline MCHC & & & & 0.300 & 0.000 * & 0.000 * \\ \hline T0 & 28.2588 & 1.55310 & 0.23965 & & & \\
6 months & 28.4774 & 2.48400 & 0.38329 & & & \\
9 months & 31.1029 & 2.22723 & 0.34367 & & & \\ \hline Hb & & & & 0.161 & 0.001 * & 0.002 * \\ \hline T0 & 10.1017 & 0.81143 & 0.12521 & & & \\
6 months & 10.3360 & 1.43527 & 0.22147 & & & \\
9 months & 10.9005 & 1.78185 & 0.27495 & & & \\ \hline Ht & & & & 0.294 & 0.000 * & 0.000 * \\ \hline T0 & 28.5952 & 2.53506 & 0.39117 & & & \\
6 months & 28.8438 & 3.16212 & 0.48793 & & \\
9 months & 30.8693 & 2.81106 & 0.43376 & & \\ \hline ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Ig, immunoglobulins; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; Hb, hemoglobin; Ht, hematocrit. & & & \\ \hline T0 & 28.5952 & 2.53506 & 0.39117 & & & \\
6 months & 28.8438 & 3.16212 & 0.48793 & & \\
9 months & 30.8693 & 2.81106 & 0.43376 & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
In eight of the patients included in **Subgroup 3**, upper endoscopy revealed Grade I esophagitis. The 3 month follow up revealed alterations in both the endoscopic appearance and biochemical markers. PPI therapy was administered, and the second evaluation showed improvement. Both the endoscopic appearance and the biochemical markers were normal at the third evaluation (Table 7). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Mean** & **Std. Deviation** & **Std. Error Mean** & \(p\) **T0–3 m** & \(p\) **T0–6 m** & \(p\) **T0–6 m** \\ \hline MCH & & & & 0.000 * & 0.000 * & 0.004 * \\ \hline T0 & 18.2067 & 2.18036 & 0.56297 & & & \\
3 months & 21.6907 & 3.06662 & 0.79180 & & & \\
6 months & 22.6560 & 2.99871 & 0.77426 & & & \\ \hline MCHC & & & & 0.038 * & 0.000 * & 0.003 * \\ \hline T0 & 29.3647 & 1.37368 & 0.35468 & & & \\
3 months & 30.3060 & 2.19750 & 0.56739 & & & \\
6 months & 32.6167 & 2.45020 & 0.63264 & & & \\ \hline Hb & & & & 0.193 & 0.000 * & 0.023 * \\ \hline T0 & 10.6727 & 0.75387 & 0.19465 & & & \\
3 months & 10.9427 & 1.03961 & 0.26843 & & & \\
6 months & 11.7967 & 1.04369 & 0.26948 & & & \\ \hline Ht & & & & 0.007 * & 0.000 * & 0.000 * \\ \hline T0 & 28.7113 & 0.95611 & 0.24687 & & & \\
3 months & 30.2087 & 2.39058 & 0.61724 & & & \\
6 months & 33.0440 & 1.69687 & 0.43813 & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; Ig, immunoglobulin; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; Hb, hemoglobin; Ht, hematocrit.  
\end{table} 
Table 7: Correlation of disease progression in third subgroup, which did not receive any treatment in the first 3 months. The decreases in the hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCH and MCHC values in both the first and the second subplots can be explained by the prolonged administration of the proton pump inhibitors.