[Primary prevention problems in digestive organ diseases]

Questionnaires were used for examining workers of one of the shops of an industrial enterprise. Out of 300 persons examined, only 160 did not note any deviations from normal. Before filling in a questionnaire 10 persons had been registered at a dispensary for alimentary diseases; 76 persons noted that they had sensed deviations from normal functioning of the alimentary organs despite the fact that they did not regard themselves as being ill. Profound clinical, instrumental, laboratory and x-ray studies revealed peptic ulcer in 25, chronic gastritis in 25, chronic cholecystitis in 13, chronic pancreatitis in 2, and chronic enterocolitis in 11 out of the 76 persons examined. As to 54 persons who indicated the signs of disturbed well-being in the questionnaires, a detailed examination failed to discover any morphological or steady functional disorders so that, these persons were attributed to a group with premorbid conditions: abdominal discomfort (23), dyspepsia (11), gastrointestinal dyskinesia (10), and asthenia (10).