Study the frequency of substance abuse in patients with perforated peptic ulcer disease

Background: Peptic ulcer perforation is one of the severe complications of peptic ulcer disease (PUD). Patients with perforated peptic ulcers usually are presented by the acute abdomen. In some studies, substance abuse is one of the peptic ulcer risk factors. Our study aimed to evaluate the frequency of substance abuse in patients with perforated peptic ulcers referred to Ardabil city hospital from January 2020 until March 2021.
Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 60 patients with peptic ulcer perforation in Ardabil city hospital from January 2020 until March 2021. Data collected by a checklist and analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS version 25.
Results: Of all patients, 13 patients (19.7%) had substance abuse and all of them were male. Of all 13 patients with substance abuse, 9 (69.2%) had opium use.
Conclusions: The results showed that substance abuse among patients with peptic ulcer perforation, can be consider as a possible risk factor for peptic ulcer perforation, but more studies should perform to identify the effective factors and variables that can be main role in peptic ulcer perforation in patients.