138 consecutive patients with endoscopically and histologically confirmed benign gastric ulcer were investigated in order to evaluate the relationship between aging and parameters relating to gastric ulcer pathophysiology and natural history: prevalence in dyspeptic patients referred to an endoscopic unit, recurrences, gastric acid secretory capacity, peptic activity, incidence of precancerous and neoplastic changes. On the basis of our results, different populations of gastric ulcer patients seem to be identifiable: (1) young patients (aged under 40), with low prevalence and recurrence rates, with acid capacity above normal range, high peptic activity and no risk for precancerous or neoplastic changes, (2) middleaged subjects (41-50), with high prevalence and recurrence rates, high peptic activity and acid activity within the normal range, atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia and low incidence of cancer, and (3) elderly patients (aged over 50), with lower prevalence and recurrence rates, frequent association with chronic atrophic gastritis, impaired acid and peptic secretion, in whom one may observe either an association of the ulceration with cancer or evolution of dysplasia into neoplasia. These observations confirm that elderly and middle-aged gastric ulcer patients should undergo routine follow-up, and that pathophysiological data should be taken into account before deciding upon antiulcer therapy.