You have been sent a manuscript to review. It describes the results of a case control study of gastric ulcer in relation to prior use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Cases in this study were all 225 patients diagnosed with a first gastric ulcer between 1982 and 1985 in a given population. All diagnoses were made by endoscopy that had been performed at specialized centers for this purpose.

It is believed that gastric endoscopy was not done elsewhere in that part of the world. Community controls were selected randomly from electoral rolls for 1982–1985. After conducting a screening interview with potential control subjects (matched to cases on the basis of sex, age, and area of residence), those with a history of gastric ulcer were excluded. In addition, about 13% of potential controls with dyspepsia were excluded as well: The authors were concerned that:

(a) some persons with this symptom might have a gastric ulcer that had not yet been diagnosed; and

(b) because NSAID use is a likely cause of dyspepsia, the occurrence of dyspepsia would be considerably more common in NSAID users than in other persons.