[Ulcer disease in schizophrenic patients as a model for the estimation of neurogenic factors predisposing to a somatic disease].

The objective of the present study was to elucidate specific clinical features of ulcer disease (UD), diseases associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, and motor disturbances in the upper portion of the gastrointestinal tract in the patients presenting with schizophrenia (n = 35). Their observation was based at a psychiatric hospital and a psychiatric dispensary, The control group was comprised of 80 psychically healthy subjects suffering ulcer disease. The program of examination included endoscopic and histological studies in conjunction with pathologoanatomic expertise. It was shown that ulcer disease in the patients with schizophrenia was characterized by the prevalence of gastric and combined forms of pathology (p = 0.001), the development of rare forms of ulcers of duodenal localization (p = 0.009), and motor disturbances in the upper portion of the gastrointestinal tract (p = 0.001) in conjunction with the impaired activity of Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis (p < 0.05) when the development of the somatic disease preceded the onset of psychosis that, in its turn, was not precipitated by chronic alcoholism. Both the primary manifestation and the relapse of UD occurred either in the absence of a marked personality defect in the psychically ill patient or in the presence of chronic alcoholism concomitant with schizophrenia.