Birth-cohort analysis of peptic ulcer mortality in Europe.
The age- and sex-specific death rates of gastric and duodenal ulcer are followed in eight European countries over a period ranging from 30 to 60 yr. A cohort analysis demonstrates that the temporal changes of peptic ulcer mortality in the European countries seem to occur in a fashion characteristic of those due to changes in birth-cohort risks. Generations born at the end of the 19th century manifested a high risk of dying from gastric and duodenal ulcer. The birth-cohorts with a high risk for duodenal ulcer lagged 10-30 yr behind those with a high risk for gastric ulcer. Male and female cohorts with the highest risk were born at the same time. The birth-cohort phenomenon is most obvious in male death rates of gastric and duodenal ulcer. A birth-cohort phenomenon would imply that important determinants for the development of gastric and duodenal ulcer occur early in the life of a cohort and that it is these early determinants that are changing with time. The determinants could be environmental factors which interact with the pathophysiology of peptic ulcer from the outside.
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003718:Denmark; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012306:Risk; D012606:Scotland; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000401:mortality*