PMC:4596361 / 29312-30355 JSONTXT

{"project":"2_test","denotations":[{"id":"26444265-23515280-9921204","span":{"begin":642,"end":644},"obj":"23515280"},{"id":"26444265-11283050-9921205","span":{"begin":773,"end":775},"obj":"11283050"},{"id":"26444265-24029198-9921206","span":{"begin":1015,"end":1017},"obj":"24029198"}],"text":"The proportion of patients who were referred for abdominal pain who had a normal endoscopy was high at 48 %. This figure is consistent with reports from other countries and is consistent with our clinical impression that functional dyspepsia is just as common in Africa as elsewhere. Oesophageal varices were found to be the most common cause of haematemesis, and most of these are attributed to Schistosoma mansoni infection [30, 37]. Other African investigators within the region have also reported oesophageal varices as the leading cause of haematemesis, in contrast to the dominance of peptic ulceration in industrialised countries [30, 38, 39], but this may vary across the continent. Duodenal ulcer (DU) is assumed to be due to H. pylori infection, which is common [18], but this is not routinely confirmed as confirmation is costly and probably unnecessary in the light of the high seroprevalence. The seasonality of DU, with lower incidence in the hot season, is consistent with data from other countries [40] but remains unexplained."}