The role of stressful life events in duodenal ulcer recurrence: a prospective study

This study prospectively assessed whether stressful life events (LE) were predictive of duodenal ulcer (DU) recurrence during remission of disease. We administered Paykel's Interview for Recent Life Events to 80 patients to assess events that occurred 12 months prior to the first interview and again 6 to 12 months later for LE that occurred during the interval. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy detected DU recurrence in 11 patients. Prospective data analysis showed no significant difference in LE between relapsing and relapse-free groups, whereas retrospective analysis showed significantly more LE (p > .03) among relapsing patients. LE seems to have played a marginal role in DU recurrence.