Objectives: The purpose of this study was to draw a current picture of the sociodemographic characteristics of peptic ulcer in the United States.
Methods: During the National Health Interview Survey of 1989, a special questionnaire on digestive diseases was administered to 41,457 randomly selected individuals. Data were retrieved from public use tapes provided by the National Center for Health Statistics. Odds ratios were calculated by logistic regression after adjustment for sample weights in the survey.
Results: Of adult US residents, 10% reported having physician-diagnosed ulcer disease, and one third of these individuals reported having an ulcer in the past year. Old age, short education, low family income, being a veteran, and smoking acted as significant and independent risk factors. Gastric and duodenal ulcer occurred in both sexes equally often. Duodenal ulcer was more common in Whites than non-Whites, while gastric ulcer was more common in non-Whites.
Conclusions: The age-related rise and socioeconomic gradients of peptic ulcer represent the historic scars of previous infection rates with Helicobacter pylori. The racial variations reflect different ages at the time of first infection; younger and older age at the acquisition of H. pylori appear to be associated with gastric and duodenal ulcer, respectively.