Mortality from bleeding peptic ulcer. Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, 1976-1980

Of 682 patients (755 admissions) who were admitted to hospital with bleeding peptic ulcers or erosive gastritis-duodenitis during a five-year period, 92 died (12% of admissions). In 70% of admissions to hospital, the patients were aged 50 years or older. The overall mortality rates were 13% in patients with bleeding gastric ulcers; 12% in those with duodenal ulcers; and 11% in those with gastritis-duodenitis. Fourteen per cent of patients with bleeding gastric ulcers, 21% of those with duodenal ulcers, and 4% of those with erosive gastritis-duodenitis had undergone surgery. Ten of 92 deaths (11%) occurred after the operation; of these, only one patient who died was aged less than 50 years. The postoperative mortality rates were 8% in patients with bleeding gastric ulcers, and 12% in those with duodenal ulcers; there were no deaths after operation for gastritis-duodenitis. Whereas the 13% overall mortality rate in patients with bleeding gastric ulcers closely resembled that found in other series, the 12% overall mortality rate in patients with bleeding duodenal ulcers was about twice that reported in recent British and Australian series.