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Cigarette smoking, gastric acidity and peptic ulceration

What are the relationships?

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Abstract

The influence of cigarette smoking on intragastric acidity was assessed in duodenal ulcer patients in symptomatic remission and in healthy volunteers in a retrospective study. Continuous 24-hr pH recordings in 150 nonsmokers and 174 smokers receiving placebo treatment were compared. Daytime intragastric acidity was higher in smokers with a median pH (interquartile range) of 1.56 (1.34–1.80) than in nonsmokers, who had a median pH of 1.70 (1.45–1.97) (P<0.001). There was no difference in 24-hr and nighttime median pH between the two groups. The small difference in daytime intragastric acidity in smokers and nonsmokers is unlikely to account for the increased prevalence of peptic ulcer disease in smokers. The analysis of smoking status in duodenal ulcer patients and healthy controls and males and females supports the general trend towards higher daytime acidity in smokers. Again, no differences in pH during the 24-hr or night period were found between the groups. The epidemiological and clinical correlation between smoking and duodenal ulcer disease is not adequately explained by increased intragastric acidity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gastrointestinal Unit, Department of Medicine, Inselspital, University of Berne, CH-3010, Berne, Switzerland

    D. Kaufmann MD, C. H. Wilder-Smith MD, M. Kempf MD, J. Neumann MD, H. Schmolls MD, L. Witzel MD, R. P. Walt MD, J. Röhmel PhD &  H. S. Merki MD

  2. Department of Gastroenterology, DRK Hospital, Mark Brandenburg, Berlin, Germany

    D. Kaufmann MD, C. H. Wilder-Smith MD, M. Kempf MD, J. Neumann MD, H. Schmolls MD, L. Witzel MD, R. P. Walt MD, J. Röhmel PhD &  H. S. Merki MD

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England

    D. Kaufmann MD, C. H. Wilder-Smith MD, M. Kempf MD, J. Neumann MD, H. Schmolls MD, L. Witzel MD, R. P. Walt MD, J. Röhmel PhD &  H. S. Merki MD

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  1. D. Kaufmann MD
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  2. C. H. Wilder-Smith MD
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  3. M. Kempf MD
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  9. H. S. Merki MD
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Kaufmann, D., Wilder-Smith, C.H., Kempf, M. et al. Cigarette smoking, gastric acidity and peptic ulceration. Digest Dis Sci 35, 1482–1487 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01540565

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01540565

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