A mass survey for the digestive diseases was performed on the leprosy patients in the National Leprosarium Oku-Komyoen in 1975, the following results being obtained.
1) 425 out of all the patients composed of 737 persons were examined : the examined versus all the patients lived here showed 61.33 %, and the average age was 57 years.
2) The most remarkable disease was gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, the percentage being 18.6%, which was further over than the frequence of the diseases in Japan. Although the true cause of ulcer has been reported by many authors, including allergic theory, it still, frankly speaking, remains unknown and chaotic.
As to the investigation of the cause of ulcer in the leprosy patients, from the hormonal and reticuloendothelial function points of view, the fact that leprosy is a nervous disease with environmental factors must be kept in mind.