Washington: Childhood adversities involving financial problems, conflicts in the family and alcohol use may have a predictive role with gastric ulcers, say researchers.
Helicobacter pylori, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and smoking are the most important risk factors for peptic ulcer.
Even psychological stress may also have an impact on the onset and course of ulcer disease.
However, Dr. Markku Sumanen and his colleagues of the Health and Social Support Study (HeSSup) showed that the most common childhood adversities like long-lasting financial difficulties in the family, serious conflicts in the family and someone in the family having been seriously or chronically ill were common among peptic ulcer patients than other respondents.
In addition, alcohol problems in the family and fear of some member of the family were also more common among peptic ulcer patients than among other respondents.
But parental divorce showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups.
The study showed that participants with childhood adversities had a higher proportional risk of developing peptic ulcer.
The researchers believe that stress factors during childhood maintain a connection with the development of peptic ulcers.
They say childhood adversities are not necessarily true risk factors for peptic ulcer, but may play a predictive role in the development of the disease.
The report appears in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
ANI