The most common childhood adversities to emerge were long-lasting financial difficulties, serious conflicts in the family and someone in the family having been seriously or chronically ill.

All adversities reported were more common among peptic ulcer patients than among other respondents. Alcohol problems in the family was also more common among peptic ulcer patients than among other respondents.

These findings suggested that stress factors during childhood are linked with the development of peptic ulcers.

The study was published in the July 21 edition of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.