Table 1

Comparison of patients and controls

	Patients (n = 1121)	Community controls (n = 989)
Current illnesses
Heart failure	65	9
Ischaemic heart disease	116	107
Other cardiovascular	221	197
Respiratory disease	183	130
Diabetes	69	27
Other endocrine	46	33
Previous peptic ulcer	290	89
Other gastrointestinal	98	106
Neurological disease	114	76
Haematological disease	36	27
Other diseases	188	161
Two or more illnesses1-150	438	256
Nursing home	37	3
Drug use in the previous week
Antacids	252	109
Antiulcer	167	54
Antibiotics	66	29
Digoxin	81	38
Diuretics	379	237
Potassium supplements	90	42
Antianginals/antiarrythmics	257	218
Oral corticosteroids	64	20
Bronchodilators	117	94
Warfarin	39	7
Psychotropics	176	111
Three or more drugs	451	237
Other
Alcohol consumption >7 units/week	197	145
Current smokers1-151	324	220
Dyspepsia in the past year >1 week	588	259

↵1-150 Excluding peptic ulcer disease.
↵1-151 As defined by at least one cigarette a day, one cigar a week, or 1 ounce of pipe tobacco a month.