Recurrent aphthous ulcerations in a mixed Arab community

Abstract

Twenty thousand Arabs of various nationalities living in Kuwait have been investigated over the past 5 years; 5,470 (27 %) manifested recurrent aphthous ulcerations (RAU). Non‐Kuwaiti Arabs were affected more than Kuwaitis and the prevalence of the disease was respectively 35% and 18 %. Among Kuwaitis, only 5 % of the Bedouins manifested the disease whereas 22 % of urbanized Arabs were affected. The ratio of the affected females to males in this study was 6:5. The clinical course of RAU in Arabs was similar to that reported in other populations. Various environmental factors such as stressful conditions, social tradition and obligations, and the allergenic Arabic food seemed to affect the prevalence of RAU in different Arab communities.

Number VI Recurrent aphthous stomatitis

“…Population studies have found RAS in about 2% of Swedish (Axell and Henricsson, 1985b), 1.9% of Spanish (Garcia‐Pola Vallejo et al , 2002) and 0.5% of Malaysian (Zain, 2000) examined adults, although 17.7% of Swedish and 9.7% of adults in Ljubljana (Slovenia) (Kovac‐Kovacic and Skaleric, 2000) have a history of possible RAS. RAS seems to be infrequent in Kuwaiti Bedouins (5%; Fahmy, 1976) and it has been found in only 0.1% of Indians in Malaysia (Zain, 2000). However, RAS may be especially common in North America (Embil et al , 1975).…”

“…There may be female predominance of RAS in adults (Ship, 1972; Fahmy, 1976; Axell and Henricsson, 1985b; Pongissawaranun and Laohapand, 1991; Donatsky, 1973; Kovac‐Kovacic and Skaleric, 2000) and in children (Field et al , 1992; Kleinman et al , 1994). In the USA, white people are three times more frequently affected than black people (Kleinman et al , 1994).…”

Clinical assessment of disease severity in recurrent aphthous stomatitis

“…Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a distinct oral condition of unknown aetiology characterised by the spontaneous emergence of more than two bouts of oral ulcers per year, not associated with ulcers elsewhere in the body or with an underlying systemic abnormality. RAS is a common oral ulcerative disease in many parts around the world . It is usually a diagnosis by exclusion after careful consideration of the patient's history and clinical appearance of the disease .…”

Expressão de receptores Toll-Like (2, 4 e 7) em células do sangue e da mucosa oral de pacientes portadores de ulceração aftosa recorrente

“…Não há predileção por sexo, condição socioeconômica ou raça (CASIGLIA, 2002). Alguns autores referem uma discreta predominância no sexo feminino (FAHMY, 1976;MILLER;SHIP;RAM, 1977), aumento na incidência e severidade de UAR em indivíduos de classes socioeconômicas mais elevadas (SHIP, 1972), e maior freqüência em indivíduos da raça branca na população adulta dos EUA (RIVERA-HIDALGO; SHULMAN; BEACH, 2004).…”