Characterization of patients with peptic ulcer disease in northeastern Nigeria: influence of lifestyle, wealth, and environmental factors

Abstract

Peptic ulcer disease is a disorder in the gastrointestinal tract. It is caused by an increase in stomach acid. There are only a few studies on peptic ulcer disease in Africa. This study was conducted to characterize the lifestyle, wealth, and environmental factors of peptic ulcer patients in the Northeastern Nigeria. The lifestyle factors that were examined were cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. A targeted sampling method was used to sample 52 PUD (n=52) patients at Federal Medical Center, Yola. I used mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative techniques) approaches for data collection. Structured questionnaires were administered to PUD patients, and questions on the lifestyle, wealth, and environmental factors of typical PUD patients were asked. The result showed that cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are not characteristics of typical PUD patients. More than 70% of the subjects stated they neither smoked cigarettes nor drank alcohol. Based on the assessment of participants’ income status, most were in the lower sector. The result indicated that the major viii characteristic of PUD patients in North Eastern Nigeria is low wealth. The age range of my respondents was 10 to 50 years with an average age of 32 years and a standard deviation of 10.67. Gender was also found to be a characteristic of PUD patients because females had more PUD than males. The results from this research clearly demonstrate that gender and income status are major characteristics of PUD. Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking may be among the characteristics of PUD patients in northern Nigeria. The void in the literature on PUD indicates that sponsored research is vital by International Nongovernmental agencies and governments in Africa.