Improvement in mortality rates in bleeding peptic ulcer disease: Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney, 1947-1977.

A series of patients with upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage treated at the Royal North Shore Hospital from 1976 to 1977 was compared to a similar series treated from 1947 to 1949. Although over-all mortality rates were similar, a clear improvement emerged when variceal, carcinoma and stress ulcer patients were excluded, and when the effect of age was taken into account (the mortality rate in the non-variceal, non-cancer, non-stress patients being 2% over-all, and 1.5% in those under 60 years of age). A review of the English literature on upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage from 1930 to 1977 showed no improvement in over-all mortality over this period. When these same factors were taken into account, however, the survival in the non-stress, chronic peptic ulcer group aged over 60 years was found to have significantly improved over this time.