Causes of death amongst a population of gastric ulcer patients in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether any specific causes of death were more frequent than expected in an Australian group of 305 gastric ulcer patients (131 men, 174 women) who had died in New South Wales between 1 January 1974 and 31 December 1983. The distribution of causes of death among the ulcer population deaths was compared with that among the New South Wales population deaths, after adjusting for sex, 5-year age group, and time period of death (1974-1978, 1979-1983). Causes of death were ascertained from death certificates. Deaths due to peptic ulcer, liver cirrhosis, and diffuse pulmonary disease were more frequent than expected (p less than 0.05). The associations found with these other diseases accord with those found in previous surveys on causes of death in gastric ulcer patients and in studies of living gastric ulcer populations. Overall, the combined evidence suggests that liver cirrhosis and diffuse pulmonary disease are associated with gastric ulcer.