Alcohol, aspirin, depression, smoking, stress and the patient with a gastric ulcer.

It would seem that a gastric ulcer is the product of an interaction between chronic gastritis, the acid (and pepsin) of the gastric juice, and one or more precipitating factors. In a group of 194 consecutive patients with gastric ulceration particular note was made of whether they smoked, drank alcohol, used salicylates, were depressed or had experienced recent stress. There was an extraordinarily high incidence of depression among White women.