Peptic ulcer in geriatric long-term care medicine

This study was based upon deceased patients in a geriatric university hospital with a high autopsy rate (81%). Of 6200 autopsied patients, 333 (5.4%) had had an active peptic ulcer; agonal and other acute erosions were not included. 257 cases were selected for the study (average age 83.8 yr). The diagnostic accuracy, and the symptoms of peptic ulcer in stationary, elderly, chronically ill patients were studied retrospectively. Only 16% of cases with duodenal ulcer and 29% with gastric ulcer had been correctly diagnosed antemortem. The clinical features of ulcer disease in the elderly may often differ from the standard presentation in younger people. Prior to death, appetite and weight loss, nausea/vomiting, anaemia and positive occult blood test had been more common among patients with ulcer, than abdominal pain and heartburn. The predictive values of single symptoms and of combined findings were low (range 2-21%), thus supporting observations from clinical practice that diagnosis is difficult in geriatric medicine. Prospective studies of ulcer disease in living elderly are needed.