Trends in management and outcomes of acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding: 1993-2003

ANVUGIB is a common reason for hospital admission and has been traditionally associated with a mortality rate of 5%-10%. There have been numerous innovations in the prevention and management of ANVUGIB in recent years, although the effect of these innovations on ANVUGIB incidence and outcomes is unknown.

We used the Statistics Canada's Health Person Oriented Information Database [corrected], which contains data characterizing every inpatient hospital admission in Canada between 1993 and 2003. We identified admissions consistent with nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding using both a broad and narrow ICD-9/ICD-10-based definition. Data were extracted concerning patient demographics, incidence of surgery for complications of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and overall mortality.

Between 1993 and 2003, ANVUGIB incidence decreased from 77.1 cases to 53.2 per 100,000/y for the broad definition, and from 52.4 to 34.3 cases per 100,000/y for the narrow definition. ANVUGIB incidence rose slightly in 2000, coincident with the introduction of COX-2 inhibitors. The proportion of ANVUGIB subjects requiring surgical intervention declined over the 10 years from 7.1% to 4.5%, although the rate of decline did not increase after the introduction of intravenous proton pump inhibitors (IV PPIs). The mortality rate remained steady at approximately 3.5%.

The incidence of ANVUGIB and the need for operative intervention has been steadily declining since 1993. ANVUGIB-associated mortality remained constant, although at a rate lower than traditionally reported. The impact of IV PPIs on mortality and operative intervention on a population-wide basis is likely minimal.