• All Digestive Diseases
• Specific Diseases
• Additional Data
• Sources
• Glossary

All Digestive Diseases

Specific Diseases

Abdominal Wall Hernia

Incidence: 800,000 new cases, including 500,000 inguinal hernias (1985)

Prevalence: 4.5 million people (1988-90)

Hospitalizations: 640,000 (1980)

Physician office visits: 2 to 3 million (1989-90)

Prescriptions: 184,000 (1989-90)

Disability: 550,000 people (1983-87)

Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis

Prevalence: 400,000 people (1976-80)

Mortality: 26,050 deaths (1987)

Hospitalizations: 300,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 1 million (1985)

Disability: 112,000 people (1983-87)

Constipation

Prevalence: 4.4 million people (1983-87)

Mortality: 29 deaths (1982-85)

Hospitalizations: 100,000 (1983-87)

Physician office visits: 2 million (1985)

Prescriptions: 1 million (1985)

Disability: 13,000 people (1983-87)

Diverticular Disease

Incidence: 300,000 new cases (1987)

Prevalence: 2 million people (1983-87)

Mortality: 3,000 deaths (1985)

Hospitalizations: 440,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 2 million (1987)

Disability: 112,000 people (1983-87)

Gallstones

Prevalence: 16 to 22 million people (1976-87)

Mortality: 2,975 (1985)

Hospitalizations: 800,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 600,000 to 700,000 (1985)

Prescriptions: 195,000 (1985)

Surgical procedures: 500,000 cholecystectomies (1987)

Disability: 48,000 people (1983-87)

Gastritis and Nonulcer Dyspepsia (NUD)

Incidence:

Gastritis: 313,000 new cases (1975)

Chronic NUD: 444,000 new cases (1975)

Acute NUD: 8.2 million new cases (1988)

Prevalence:

Gastritis: 2.7 million people (1988)

NUD: 5.8 million people (1988)

Mortality:

Gastritis: 703 (1980's)

NUD: 49 (1980's)

Hospitalizations:

Gastritis: 600 (1980's)

NUD: 65,000 (1980's)

Physician office visits:

Gastritis: 3 million (1980's)

NUD: 800,000 (1980's)

Prescriptions:

Gastritis: 2 million (1985)

NUD: 649,000 (1985)

Disability:

Gastritis: 34,000 people (1983-87)

Chronic NUD: 42,000 people (1983-87)

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Related Esophageal Disorders

Prevalence: 3 to 7 percent of U.S. population (1985)

Mortality: 1,000 deaths (1984-88)

Hospitalizations: 1 million (1985)

Physician office visits: 4 to 5 million (1985)

Hemorrhoids (1983-87)

Incidence: 1 million new cases

Prevalence: 10.4 million people

Mortality: 17 deaths

Hospitalizations: 316,000

Physician office visits: 3.5 million

Prescriptions: 1.5 million

Disability: 52,000 people

Infectious Diarrhea

Incidence: 99 million new cases (1980)

Mortality: 3,100 deaths (1985)

Hospitalizations: 462,000 to 728,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 8 to 12 million (1985)

Prescriptions: 5 to 8 million (1985)

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (1987)

Incidence: 2 to 6 new cases per 100,000 people

Prevalence: 300,000 to 500,000 people

Mortality: Fewer than 1,000 deaths

Hospitalizations: 100,000 (64 percent for Crohn's disease)

Physician office visits: 700,000

Disability: 119,000 people (1983-87)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Prevalence: 5 million people (1987)

Hospitalizations: 34,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 3.5 million (1987)

Prescriptions: 2.2 million (1985)

Disability: 400,000 people (1983-87)

Lactose Intolerance ^[2]

Prevalence: 30 to 50 million people (1994)

Pancreatitis

Incidence: Acute: 17 new cases per 100,000 people (1976-88)

Mortality: 2,700 deaths (1985)

Hospitalizations:

Acute: 125,000 (1987)

Chronic: 20,000 (1987)

Physician office visits:

Acute: 911,000 (1987)

Chronic: 122,000 (1987)

Peptic Ulcer

Prevalence: 5 million people (1987)

Mortality: 6,500 deaths (1987)

Hospitalizations: 630,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 3 to 5 million (1985)

Prescriptions: 2 million (1985)

Disability: 401,000 people (1983-87)

Viral Hepatitis

Incidence:

Hepatitis A: 32,000 new cases (1992)

Hepatitis B: 200,000 to 300,000 new cases (1990)

Hepatitis C: 150,000 new cases (1991)

Hepatitis D: 70,000 new cases (1990)

Prevalence:

Hepatitis A: 32 to 38 percent of U.S. population that have any history of disease (1991)

Hepatitis B: 4 percent of U.S. population that have any history of disease (1990)

Hepatitis C and D: Not determined

Mortality: Fewer than 1,000 deaths (1985)

Hospitalizations: 33,000 (1987)

Physician office visits: 500,000 (1985)

Additional Data

Number of gastroenterologists in the United States ^[4]: 7,493 (1990)

Sources

Everhart, J. E. (Ed.). (1994). Digestive diseases in the United States: Epidemiology and impact. (NIH Publication No. 94-1447). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The book answers hundreds of questions about the scope and impact of the major infectious, chronic, and malignant digestive diseases. National and special-population-based data on specific digestive diseases provide information about the prevalence, incidence, medical care, disability, mortality, and research needs. The data were compiled primarily from the surveys of the National Center for Health Statistics, supplemented by other Federal agencies and private sources.

The book is available for $15 from the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse at the address listed below. Please make checks payable to NDDIC.

² National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

³ United Network for Organ Sharing Scientific Registry.

⁴ American Medical Association. (1992). Physician characteristics and distribution in the United States (1992 ed., p. 20). Chicago, IL: American Medical Association.

Glossary

Disability: The number of people in a year whose ability to perform major daily activities such as working, housekeeping, and going to school is limited and reduced over long periods because of a disease.

Hospitalizations: The number of hospitalizations for a disease in a year.

Incidence: The number of new cases of a disease in the U.S. population in a year.

Mortality: The number of deaths resulting from the disease listed as the underlying or primary cause in a year.

Physician office visits: The number of outpatient visits to office-based phLIGN="TOP"> NIH Publication No. 99-3873
February 1995

e-text updated: August 1999