The outcome of suspected upper gastrointestinal bleeding with 24-hour access to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: a...

The aim was to evaluate the 30-day mortality after endoscopy for suspected upper gastrointestinal bleed, following the implementation of national audit guidelines at our hospital.

All patients with suspected upper gastrointestinal bleeding, referred for endoscopy to our teaching hospital between October 2001 and December 2003, were included in a prospective cohort study.

A total of 716 patients with suspected upper gastrointestinal tract haemorrhage were referred for urgent endoscopy. The median age was 69 years (interquartile range 51 - 80 years). Bleeding from peptic ulcer remained the single most common endoscopic diagnosis (40 %). The overall re-bleeding rate for all patients with a gastrointestinal haemorrhage was 10 %. The overall 30-day mortality rate was 14.6 %. This was not significantly different from the mortality rate in 1995 of 10.5 % ( P = 0.11). Patients who died were significantly older (78 vs. 67 years, 95 %CI of the difference 5 to 12, P < 0.001). However, in only 29 % (30/105) was gastrointestinal haemorrhage stated in the death certificate as a factor which contributed to their death.

Our results show that implementing the good practice guideline has a limited impact on overall mortality because of contributing factors that are beyond the control of clinicians.