[Comparative case-control analysis of gastric and duodenal ulcers]

A case-control analysis was conducted comparing gastric and duodenal ulcers involving 369 cases with gastric ulcer, 127 cases with duodenal ulcer an 3,104 control subjects based on a questionnaire survey of subjects who received gastroscopic examination at the Aichi Cancer Center Hospital from April, 1985 to March, 1989. Risk of gastric ulcer was positively associated with smoking (relative risk (RR) = 3.67, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.63-5.13), irregular time of meals (RR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.06-1.81) and milk intake (RR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.25-2.04) and inversely associated with fruit intake (RR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.57-0.95), while the risk of duodenal ulcer was positively associated with smoking (RR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.16-3.26), a preference for foods that are not rich (RR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.03-2.32), intake of pickled vegetables (RR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.21-2.55) and presence of methods of diversion (RR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.16-2.71). These results suggest that life style is involved in the etiology of both diseases and that there are some differences in the associations between both diseases.