Such chronic gastrointestinal diseases as peptic ulcer, cirrhosis, and cholelithiasis are becoming increasingly recognized as health problems. This is the first book to deal specifically with mortality data, broken down by geographic, socioeconomic, and other demographic parameters, from digestive diseases in the United States from 1959 to 1961.

Digestive Diseases interprets theses data in relation to clinical material regarding cause and clinical course of the disease and indicates their significance for understanding trends in incidence and prevalence as well as possible future trends. World literature on incidence and prevalence as well as mortality has also been utilized.