Population knowledge about peptic ulcer disease and outcomes

Introduction. Incidence of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) remains common condition. The frequency of stomach and duodenal ulcer in Lithuania in 2015 was 8.1 per 1000 inhabitants. There are a lot of accessible information about risk factors, clinical manifestation and complications of this disease. To develop prophylaxis and improve the outcome of stomach and duodenal ulcers, it is important to evaluate community knowledge about these conditions. Aim. To evaluate community knowledge about risk factor, clinical manifestation and possible complications of PUD. Materials and methods. Over a period of two month (April till May, 2017) 186 respondents were questioned using the original questionnaire made by the authors. In the questionnaire respondents were asked about the risk factors, clinical manifestation and complications of PUD. The correct answers were scored on 1 point and wrong with 0 point. Respondents were able to get maximum 26 points. The statistical data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS 23.0 program package. Results. 59.1 % of subjects were related with medicine and 40.9 % were non-related. The answer to the question “Do you think Helicobacter pylori (HP) bacterium can cause PUD?” 81.7 % of the respondents answered correctly. Also, 97.8 % of our survey participants believe that stress could be a trigger for PUD. More than 95 % of the respondents knew that PUD is related with bleeding (97.8 %) and perforation (95.7 %). The median of total correct scores was 20 (females median was 20, males 19, there was no statistically significant difference). There was statistically significant difference between medicine related and unrelated persons knowledge, median of medicine related subjects was 20, median of medicine unrelated subjects was 19. There was no difference of knowledge between volunteers diagnosed with PUD (median 19) and other respondents (median 20). Conclusion. Subjects had best knowledge [...]