Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of All Subjects and Comparison among the Groups
| Variables | Healthy control group (A, n=12,419) | Symptomatic PUD (B, n=124) | Asymptomatic PUD (C, n=309) | p-value (A vs. B) | p-value (A vs. C) | p-value (B vs. C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, yearsa) | 47.65 (±12.36) | 50.47 (±11.57) | 49.56 (±12.08) | 0.012 | 0.007 | 0.476 |
| Male sex, n (%) | 6758 (54.4) | 94 (75.8) | 227 (73.5) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.630 |
| BMI, kg/m2 a) | 23.78 (±3.32) | 24.30 (±3.42) | 24.47 (±3.39) | 0.082 | <0.001 | 0.627 |
| Smoking, n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.224 | |||
| Non-smoker | 5871 (54.1) | 28 (26.2) | 85 (31.1) | |||
| Past smoker | 2705 (24.9) | 25 (23.4) | 77 (28.2) | |||
| Current smoker | 2282 (21.0) | 54 (50.5) | 111 (40.7) | |||
| Alcohol, n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.025 | |||
| Non-drinker | 2980 (25.3) | 14 (11.7) | 42 (14.2) | |||
| Social drinker | 8208 (69.6) | 86 (71.7) | 230 (78.0) | |||
| Heavy drinkerb) | 609 (5.2) | 20 (16.7) | 23 (7.8) | |||
| H. pylori infection, n (%)c) | 6865 (55.3) | 89 (71.8) | 218 (70.6) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.816 |
| Corpus atrophy, n (%)d) | 721 (13.4) | 5 (7.4) | 13 (8.7) | 0.155 | 0.111 | 0.798 |
| Endoscopic findings, n (%) | ||||||
| Chronic atrophic gastritis | 5646 (45.5) | 47 (37.9) | 119 (38.5) | 0.103 | 0.018 | 0.914 |
| Reflux esophagitis | 984 (7.9) | 17 (13.7) | 26 (8.4) | 0.022 | 0.831 | 0.110 |
| Underlying diseases, n (%) | ||||||
| Diabetes | 799 (6.4) | 15 (12.1) | 24 (7.8) | 0.017 | 0.348 | 0.193 |
| Medication, n (%) | ||||||
| NSAIDs | 765 (6.2) | 15 (12.1) | 27 (8.7) | 0.010 | 0.073 | 0.369 |
| Low dose aspirin | 845 (6.8) | 7 (5.6) | 28 (9.1) | 0.722 | 0.137 | 0.253 |
PUD, peptic ulcer disease; BMI, body mass index; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Continuous variables were summarized as mean±standard deviation (SD) and analyzed by the student t-test. All other data were presented as number (%) and analyzed by the chi-square test. The significant results are highlighted in bold.
Heavy drinking was defined as consuming 15 drinks or more per week for men and 8 drinks or more per week for women.
H. pylori infection was initially identified by the results of H. pylori IgG antibody test. Then, for more information, the results of biopsy stained with Giemsa, urea breath test, and rapid urea test were reviewed.
Corpus atrophy was defined as a serum pepsinogen (PG) I/II ratio <3.0 and PG I <70 ng/mL.