Gastroduodenitis and peptic ulcer in a rural Liberian community. An endoscopic prospective study.

In a prospective study on a Liberian rubber plantation lasting over 12 months, 79 consecutive patients with recurrent epigastric pain as well as 15 controls without evidence of gastrointestinal disease were endoscoped with a fiberoptic instrument. Peptic ulcers were found in 7 (9%) of the 79 patients; 3 were in the prepyloric antrum and 4 in the duodenal bulb. The incidence of symptomatic peptic ulcer disease estimated from the data was 0.15 per 1000 population per year. Histology revealed superficial gastritis in 34, atrophic gastritis in 23 and duodenitis in 23 of the patients and in 3, 2 and 1 respectively of the control group. The differences observed between patients and controls were statistically significant for the stomach (p less than 0.01) but not for the duodenum. No correlation was found between the presence of histological gastritis and either dietary and social habits or the presence of intestinal parasites.