Perforated peptic ulcer in Auckland and Glasgow.

Abstract

A retrospective study is presented of the incidence of perforated peptic ulcer diagnosed at laparotomy or autopsy in the Auckland area for the decade 1954 to 1963. During this period 408 perforations, comprising 345 pyloro-duodenal, 59 gastric and four stomal ulcers, were treated in hospital. The total mortality rate for the treated patients was 8.3%, rising to 13.7% for the whole series. Approximately 60% of the perforations occurred after the age of 60 years, there being a sharp increase in mortality with advancing age; the death rate was higher for gastric ulcer perforations for both sexes at all ages. Pyloro-duodenal ulcer perforations were considerably more frequent in the male, but the differences were much less striking in the case of gastric ulcer. In the female, both pyloro-duodenal and gastric ulcers perforated at a later age and carried a higher mortality rate. Despite a linear increase in the population during the decade under study, there has been no change in the annual frequency of perforations. The figures presented suggest a low incidence of perforation in the Maori race. The main features of the survey have been compared with those of a similar study carried out in the west of Scotland.