The Incidence of Aspirin Ingestion in Patients With Peptic Ulcer

In an attempt to elucidate the cause of the excessive incidence of gastric ulcer in women in eastern Australia, 170 patients with uncomplicated peptic ulcer examined in one medical unit of the Royal Newcastle Hospital were studied. The excessive Incidence of gastric ulcer was in females aged 30 to 59 years. There was a statistically significant association between gastric ulcer and the consumption of large quantities of aspirin-containing preparations, usually APC powders taken for headache. No such correlation for duodenal ulcer in either sex, or gastric ulcer in males, was found. Geographical differences in analgesic habit may explain the Interstate variations in ulcer incidence. The evidence of this series strengthens the hypothesis that the aspirin in the APC powder is the cause of the Australian gastric ulcer change.