Stress gastritis revisited.

In current ICU populations, overt bleeding from stress gastritis occurs in 10% to 20% of patients. Bleeding rates may be reduced to about 3% in patients receiving prophylactic therapy. Although patients with bleeding have higher mortality rates than other critically ill patients, it is not clear that the mortality rate is improved with prophylactic therapy, as most patients die from their underlying disease. As new complications of prophylactic therapy are identified, better definitions of the population at risk to develop complications of stress gastritis will be necessary to select those patients who will benefit most from prophylactic therapy.