The peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a paradigm of the mind body interaction. This model has been a source of much research until the rise of an infectious etiologic model and improvement in pharmacotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, there is no epidemiological data investigating the co-occurrence of PUD with personality disorders based on DSM-IV criteria.

To assess the association between peptic ulcer and a wide range of personality disorders in a large sample representative of the general population in the United States.

Data were drawn from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, on the basis of a face-to-face interview of more than 43,000 adults. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between self-reported “stomach ulcer” and personality disorders.

All seven personality disorders assessed in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (i.e., avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizoid, histrionic, and antisocial personality disorders) were associated with stomach ulcer, with odds ratio ranging from 2.26 (obsessive compulsive personality disorder) to 5.54 (dependent personality disorder). Participants with ulcer were five times more likely to have more than three personality disorders than participants without ulcer. The relationship between ulcer and personality disorders was only slightly attenuated after adjusting for sociodemographic conditions, physical and psychiatric disorders, and addictions.

Self-reported peptic ulcer is associated with increased rates of personality disorders, beyond the influence of psychiatric disorders or addictions.

Psychosom Med. 2010 Aug 17. [Epub ahead of print]