Mortality Risk Higher in Diabetics with Peptic Ulcer

Short-term mortality significantly increased in diabetics with bleeding or perforated peptic ulcers

FRIDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with diabetes are at higher risk of short-term mortality from peptic ulcer bleeding and perforation, according to a study published in the April issue of Diabetes Care.

Between 1991 and 2003, Reimar Wernich Thomsen, M.D., of Aarhus University Hospital in Aalborg, Denmark, and colleagues studied 7,232 patients hospitalized for bleeding ulcers, 731 (10.1 percent) of whom were diabetic. They also identified 2,061 patients with perforated ulcers, of whom 140 (6.8 percent) had diabetes.

In patients with bleeding ulcers, the researchers found that the 30-day mortality among diabetic patients was 16.6 percent compared to 10.1 percent among non-diabetics. In patients with perforated ulcers, they found that the 30-day mortality among diabetic patients was 42.9 percent compared to 24 percent among non-diabetics.

"Diabetic angiopathy may impair mucosal integrity and lead to more severe ulcers and may also make it more difficult to stop bleeding from the ulcers," the authors state. "We conclude that diabetes is an important prognostic factor for short-term mortality among patients with either bleeding or perforated peptic ulcers."

Abstract
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