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Prevalence of gastroduodenal lesions in chronic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug users presenting with dyspepsia at the Kenyatta National Hospital
Abstract
Objectives: The main objective was to determine the prevalence of gastroduodenal lesions seen at endoscopy and histopathology in chronic NSAID users presenting with dyspepsia at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Design: This was a hospital-based crosssectional study.
Methods: Seventy patients aged 13 years and above, on NSAIDs for 4 weeks or more, and presenting with dyspepsia were recruited and done for endoscopies. Six biopsy specimens were taken from each patient (2 from each of the following sites: - corpus, antrum and duodenum). One specimen from each site was subjected to the rapid urease test for H. pylori detection. The remaining three were subjected to histopathological evaluation.
Results: Forty male and 25 female patients aged between 16-77 years, with a mean age of 43.4 years were studied. At endoscopy, only 10 (13.9%) patients had normal gastroduodenal mucosa. Gastritis was the most prevalent lesion occurring in 50% of the patients. Peptic ulcer disease had a point prevalence of 30.5% (duodenal ulcers 22.2%, and gastric ulcers 8.3%). Other lesions at endoscopy were duodenitis 16.7%, gastric erosions 5.6%, duodenal erosions 1.4% and hemorrhagic gastritis 1.4%. At histopathology, only 5 (6.9%) patients had normal gastroduodenal mucosa. Chronic active gastritis was the most prevalent lesion at 77.8%. Other lesions were chronic gastritis 12.5%, chemical gastritis 6.9%, duodenitis 41.7% and intestinal metaplasia 4.2%. Prevalence of H. pylori in our study population was 50%. There was no association between the gastroduodenal lesions and H. pylori infection.
Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of gastroduodenal mucosal lesions both at histopathology (93.1%) and endoscopy (86.1%) in the chronic NSAID users.