Duodenal Ulcers in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Using a method that involves corrections for pyloric losses and duodenogastric reflux, we determined gastric acid secretion in 36 control subjects (25 males and 11 females) and 58 patients with duodenal ulcer (44 males and 14 females). Most of the study subjects were Saudis, except for nine Yemenis. Mean basal and pentagastrin-stimulated or maximal acid outputs in male controls were 1.78 ± 1.49 (SD) and 19.86 ± 7.91 mmol/h, respectively; in female controls the corresponding values were 1.76 ± 2.02 and 16.23 ± 4.33 mmol/h, with maximal secretion positively correlating with height, weight, and lean body mass (LBM), and negatively with age. In the duodenal ulcer group, mean basal and maximal acid outputs for men were 3.81 ± 3.42 and 27.08 ± 9.54 mmol/h and for women, 1.55 ± 2.37 and 18.60 ± 7.53 mmol/h. Maximal acid secretion correlated positively with height, weight, LBM, and duration of illness. In male patients with duodenal ulcer, mean basal and stimulated acid secretion were significantly higher than in the male controls, the proportion of hypersecretors being 20.45%. In women the differences were of borderline significance. Men secreted more acid than women, and when maximal secretion was standardized for height, this sex difference disappeared. Height standardization did not affect the differences in acid secretion between patients with duodenal ulcer and controls. Our results confirmed the well-known association of blood group O with duodenal ulcer and revealed a significant association of this disease with family history of peptic ulcer. The

A Prospective Study of the Morbidity Pattern of Patients Seen at a University Primary Care Clinic

“…13 Smoking, an important environmental factor, and H. pylori are associated with peptic acid disease in Saudis. 14,15 There is, therefore, a need for greater awareness of smoking as an environmental hazard in the Kingdom, where cigarette smoking seems to be prevalent and relatively free from the restrictions that have been adopted in most developed countries.…”