Deaths from Perforated Peptic Ulcer

Abstract

Information is presented on 633 patients, out of a total series of 5,343 perforations, who died as a result of the perforation. The fatality rate has risen over the past decade and has stabilized at about 12 per cent; this rise is likely to be due to an increase in the age of the patients.

The fatality rate is higher in females than in males; it is higher in the elderly than in the young.

As regards the time of perforation, the fatality rate is at its highest in perforations occurring in February and in perforations occurring between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. There is no significant fluctuation in the fatality rate as far as the day of the week is concerned. The fatality rate rises with delay in operative treatment. The rate is also higher in perforated gastric ulcer than it is in perforated pyloroduodenal ulcer.

Index-words::

• Stomach
• peptic ulcer perforation
• mortality