Morbidity of peptic ulcer. Registration of hospital discharges in Denmark 1978-1980.

A descriptive investigation of the frequency of discharges and the frequency of complications for patients with ulcer disease on the basis of the National Patient Registry in Denmark covering the years 1978, 1979, and 1980 for the diagnoses gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastrojejunal ulcer, peptic ulcer, site unspecified, and gastritis-duodenitis is presented. The number of discharges was constant--12,000-13,000 annually, or 250 per 100,000 inhabitants--with a 4% increase for gastric ulcer and an 11% decrease for duodenal ulcer during the period. The frequency of discharges was of the same size as for comparable groups of diseases in Denmark in 1970-1977 but greater than in the United Kingdom. The number of patients discharged was 10,000 annually. The consumption of bed days fell from 126,000 to 106,000, implying a reduction in the average length of stay from 9.6 to 8.3 days. The total number of surgical operations and the number of elective operations was constant, around 2000 and 1400 annually, respectively. Of the patients discharged 20% had had a bleeding and 8% a perforation from their ulcer. During the period of examination cimetidine was introduced in the treatment, and this may have influenced the decrease in the consumption of bed days and the frequency of discharges for duodenal ulcer.