PEPTIC-ULCER PATTERNS IN ARCTIC NORWAY

While there are four times as many duodenal as gastric ulcers in Europ e and the United States, previous studies have shown gastric ulcers to be more common in the Arctic regions of Norway. To investigate a poss ible change in the duodenal-to-gastric ulcer ratio, the incidence rate of first-time peptic ulcer in a well defined population in Northern N orway was studied by registration of all examinations of the upper dig estive tract from 1983 to 1984. In this population, 5.3% were examined by endoscopy (52.5%) or a barium meal (47.5%). The incidence rates of duodenal and gastric ulcers were 1.4 and 0.8 per 1,000 per year, resu lting in a duodenal-to-gastric ulcer ratio of 1.7:1. Although this rat io is higher than in a previous study (1.1:1), the pattern of peptic u lcer disease in northern Norway is still different from that in the re st of Europe.