Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Research Summary

Poor sleep quality and peptic ulcer disease (PUD, a condition when sores known as ulcers develop on the lining of your stomach or in the first part of your small intestine) are both major public health problems that affect the physical and psychological wellbeing of older adults.

Poor sleep quality can be caused by age-related increases in chronic health conditions, medication use, sleep behavior changes, and other issues. It affects around one-third of all older adults. Peptic ulcers are common among older adults, too. They often result from the presence of a specific bacteria, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), in our gut. Thanks to the development of treatments for H. pylori infections, however, the rate of recurrent peptic ulcers (ulcers that consistently come back after treatment) has dropped dramatically. Few people who experience a recurrence of ulcers, for example, are infected with H. pylori.

However, that still doesn’t explain why some people experience recurrence.

Recently, a team of researchers designed a study to test their hypothesis that other factors besides the bacteria could cause peptic ulcer recurrence—and that poor sleep may be among them. They published their results in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Continue reading →