[Chronic gastritis, a physiological symptom of aging?].

In order to answer the question we have tried to evaluate, firstly, whether the age-dependent increase of the prevalence of gastritis is due only to a regular recruitment of new cases associated with poor remission tendency, or whether some age-specific factors are participating, and secondly, whether gastritis is able to cause abdominal complaints. Dynamic evaluation of the age-behaviour of gastritis in first-degree relatives of patients with pernicious anaemia demonstrated the presence of age-specific factors, which facilitate the progression of gastritis in older age. The nature of these factors is, however, unknown. A significant association could be demonstrated between the presence of all gastritis and the B-type of it and the occurrence of upper abdominal complaints in a representative sample of a Finnish population. However, a considerable proportion of the gastritis cases with complaints had peptic ulcer, gallstones or hiatal hernia, which could better explain the occurrence of complaints than gastritis. It is concluded that gastritis is no disease in clinical sense, however, it is not a physiological aging phenomenon either, as is demonstrated by the present dynamic evaluation and the relations of gastritis to clinically important diseases, such as peptic ulcer, polyps, gastric carcinoma and pernicious anaemia.