title: Changing trends in perforated peptic ulcer during the past 45 years.
abstract: Since 1944 there has been a dramatic change in the pattern of admissions for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) to the Royal Newcastle Hospital, the main teaching hospital of the Hunter Region, Australia. Between 1944 and 1950, females accounted for 6% of all perforations; since then the proportion of females admitted with this complication has risen to 32%. Simultaneously, the modal age for PPU has shifted from the fifth to the seventh decade and the ratio of gastric to pyloroduodenal perforations has fallen from 1.1:1 to 0.6:1. No good explanation for this change in the natural history of PPU, also noted elsewhere, is evident.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Royal Newcastle Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Agrez
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senthiselvan
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Duggan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010439:Peptic Ulcer Perforation / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013997:Time Factors