MedWire News: Patients with perforated peptic ulcers face an increased risk of death if they take antipsychotic medications, researchers have found.

"Peptic ulcer perforation is a serious surgical emergency with a substantial short-term mortality, but the influence of antipsychotic drug use on the prognosis remains unknown," explain Dr C Christiansen and colleagues from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark.

To investigate, the team studied data on 2033 patients who were hospitalised with perforated peptic ulcers for the first time between 1991 and 2004.

The researchers examined the medical records of each patient to identify all those who used antipsychotics and other medications.

In total, 27% of the patients died within 30 days of hospital admission.

After accounting for the presence of other diseases and conditions, and the use of other medications, the team found that perforated ulcer patients who were using antipsychotic medications at the time of admission were 70% more likely to die within 30 days than those who did not use these drugs.

The current use of atypical antipsychotics was associated with the same risk of death as the current use of conventional antipsychotics.

However, patients who were former users of antipsychotics were no more likely to die within 30-days of hospital admission for perforated peptic ulcers than those who had never used these medications.

"We found that preadmission use of antipsychotic drugs was associated with substantially increased 30-day mortality from perforated peptic ulcer, particularly among elderly patients," write Dr Christiansen and team.

They add: "Our results support the statement that antipsychotics should be used conservatively among the elderly."

The research is published in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.