The disease burden of non-communicable disease such as Peptic ulcer disease is usually associated with late complications. It is unfortunate that endoscopy which is said to be the ideal diagnostic tool for Peptic ulcer disease is not easily available in the health facilities in Tanzania. As a result patients have to travel a long distance for the Peptic ulcer disease testing. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence of Peptic ulcer disease by endoscopy in patients who were clinically adjudges to have Peptic ulcer disease at Bugando medical centre between March 2011 and March 2012.

Methods: A hospital based retrospective cross sectional study conducted at Bugando medical centre. It involved a sample size of 122 patients who were randomly selected but had met the required criteria and check lists were used during data collection.

Results: The overall prevalence of Peptic ulcer disease by endoscopy in patients who were clinically diagnosed was 91% (n=111). Males were more affected 56.8% (n=63) patients a compared to females 43.2% (n=48). The major risk factor seen was alcohol 51.4% (n=57) followed by smoking 33.3% (n=37) and least was NSAIDS 14.8% (n=16) patients. The major presenting symptom was abdominal pain more localized at the epigastric region 72.1% (n=80), Upper gastro intestinal bleeding 36.9% patients (n=41) and least of all heartburn 31.5% (n=35). Gastric ulcers were more common 50.0% (n=61) patients compared to duodenal ulcers 30.3% (n=37) patients. Clinical diagnosis and endoscopic findings were seen to be highly associated statistically.

Conclusion: Clinical diagnosis is sufficient enough to make an accurate diagnosis of PUD without the necessity of undergoing invasive endoscopic procedures which might not only be hard to access but also not easily affordable to the Africa societies due to the low social economic status.