Abstract

The influence of the age of onset of symptoms on various clinical features of peptic ulcer was studied in a personal series of 492 patients (duodenal ulcer 363, gastric ulcer 98, combined gastric and duodenal ulcer 31). Duodenal ulcer patients whose age of onset of symptoms was within the first three decades (n = 166) were more likely to be men (77%) and to have a positive family history of dyspepsia (45%) and a history of haemorrhage (46%) when compared with late onset patients (n = 197, men 57%, positive family history 23%, history of haemorrhage 36%). Early onset duodenal ulcer patients also secreted more gastric acid than late onset patients. In contrast, while early onset gastric ulcer patients were more likely to be men, when compared to late onset patients, the two groups were similar in their family history of dyspepsia, their history of haemorrhage, and their gastric acid output. The age of onset of Malay duodenal ulcer patients (mean (SD) 43.6 (16.0] was higher than those for Chinese patients (33.7 (16.1].