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The family history of patients identified during incidence studies in Leicestershire were investigated and the prevalence and comparative risks calculated; 1254 patients aged 15 to 80 years were sent a questionnaire about their family history. All cases with a positive family history were reviewed and confirmed cases included in the study. In Europeans the standardised prevalence of Crohn's disease was 75.8/10(5) and that of ulcerative colitis 90.8/10(5). The prevalence of Crohn's disease among South Asians was 33.2/10(5) and that of ulcerative colitis 135/10(5). The prevalence of Crohn's disease in Europeans was significantly greater than that in Hindus (chi 2 = 16, p < 0.001), while the prevalence of ulcerative colitis was significantly lower in Europeans than Hindus (chi 2 = 27, p < 0.001) and Sikhs (chi 2 = 4.4, p < 0.05). The comparative risk of developing ulcerative colitis in first degree relatives of Europeans patients with ulcerative colitis was increased by approximately 15, but the risk of Crohn's disease was not increased. The comparative risk of developing Crohn's disease among first degree relatives of patients with Crohn's disease was increased by up to 35, the comparative risk of ulcerative colitis was approximately 3. The risk among relatives of South Asian patients with Crohn's disease was not increased, but the risk of ulcerative colitis to relatives of patients with ulcerative colitis was. This study supports the view that Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis arise in people with a genetic predisposition and exposed to some, as yet unknown, environmental factor.

Because the range of bowel habits and stool types in the community is unknown we questioned 838 men and 1059 women, comprising 72.2% of a random stratified sample of the East Bristol population. Most of them kept records of three consecutive defecations, including stool form on a validated six point scale ranging from hard, round lumps to mushy. Questionnaire responses agreed moderately well with recorded data. Although the most common bowel habit was once daily this was a minority practice in both sexes; a regular 24 hour cycle was apparent in only 40% of men and 33% of women. Another 7% of men and 4% of women seemed to have a regular twice or thrice daily bowel habit. Thus most people had irregular bowels. A third of women defecated less often than daily and 1% once a week or less. Stools at the constipated end of the scale were passed more often by women than men. In women of child bearing age bowel habit and the spectrum of stool types were shifted towards constipation and irregularity compared with older women and three cases of severe slow transit constipation were discovered in young women. Otherwise age had little effect on bowel habit or stool type. Normal stool types, defined as those least likely to evoke symptoms, accounted for only 56% of all stools in women and 61% in men. Most defecations occurred in the early morning and earlier in men than in women. We conclude that conventionally normal bowel function is enjoyed by less than half the population and that, in this aspect of human physiology, younger women are especially disadvantaged.

The prevalence of gall stone disease in a stratified random sample of 1896 British adults (72.2% of those approached) was established using real time ultrasound. The prevalence rose with age, except in women of 40-49 years, so that at 60-69 years, 22.4% of women and 11.5% of men had gall stones or had undergone cholecystectomy. The cholecystectomy rate of people with gall stone disease was higher in women than in men (43.5% v 24%, p less than 0.05). Very few subjects with gall stones had convincing biliary symptoms. In women, 10.4% had symptoms according to a questionnaire definition of biliary pain and 6.3% according to conventional history taking, while no men at all admitted to biliary pain. Nevertheless, cholecystectomy in men had nearly always been preceded by convincing biliary symptoms. The age at cholecystectomy was, on average, nine years less than the age at detection of silent gall stones in both sexes. It is concluded that either gall stones are especially prone to cause symptoms in younger people or that there are two kinds of cholelithiasis - symptomatic and silent. The lack of symptomatic gall stones in cross sectional surveys is probably due to their rapid diagnosis and treatment.

All cases of Crohn's disease in the Nottingham area were ascertained and the date and place of domicile and work at the time of onset of symptoms noted. Applying the Knox and Pike and Smith tests for clustering of patients in time and space, no significant results were observed. Further analysis of differences in time-space clustering between a group of patients and matched controls is in hand.