The Health Assessment Questionnaire as a predictor of non-steroidal peptic ulceration

To assess the possibility of a relationship between the degree of physical disability in arthritic patients and non-steroidal peptic ulceration, patients were endoscoped immediately after performing their arthritic functional assessments. The Health Assessment Questionnaire was used and patients were classified into three main groups: I, scoring 0-1; II, 1.1-2; and III, 2.1-3. Ulcers, found in 36 out of 89 patients studied (36/89, 40%), were distributed as follows: 15/22 (68%) in group III compared with 9/28 (32%) in group I (chi 2 = 5.2, P < 0.02), and 12/39 (31%) in group II (chi 2 = 7.24, P < 0.01). Patients with debilitating arthritis appear to have a higher prevalence of non-steroidal peptic ulceration. This finding might be relevant to the process of selecting patients for prophylactic anti-ulcer therapy.