Ulcers, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, and related matters.

This overview is intended to provide perspectives drawn from the proceedings of the Ulcer-Epidemiology Symposium reported in this supplement. This meeting was designed to review the epidemiology and risk factors underlying the development of acid/peptic diseases and to highlight the natural history and therapy of these disorders. These topics served as a focus for the meeting. A second goal was to consider the topics in the context of ulcer complications resulting from use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Although nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are well known to cause gastric damage and ulcers and to lead to complications of preexisting peptic ulcers, the frequency and severity of the clinical problems resulting from their use and the efficacy of different modalities for prevention and treatment have only recently begun to be the subjects of careful analysis.