A Retrospective Study of Epistaxis-ED in Bielsko-Biala, Poland

Objectives: This research presents a retrospective analysis of cases of epistaxis in patients arriving at the Emergency Department (ED ENT) of the Provincial Hospital in Bielsko-Biala throughout 2015-2019. Methods: The analysis covered two periods: a general dataset (2015-2018) and a detailed clinical subset (2018-2019). Each case of a patient presenting with epistaxis, who was diagnosed with ICD-10 R04.0 Epistaxis upon admission to the ED, was analyzed in relation to the patient's age and place of permanent residence. Moreover, the patients admitted from July 2018 to June 2019 were subjected to an in-depth analysis, which took into account their blood pressure, the use of anticoagulants or antiplatelet medication, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) symptoms, deviated nasal septum, the type of dressing used, and potential trauma or nasal surgery. Results: A clear seasonality was observed when it comes to the number of patients reporting to the ED-there was a significant decrease in the number of patients with nasal bleeding during summer months. Patients aged over 60 years constituted the largest group. The vast majority of patients were diagnosed with a deviated nasal septum (ICD-10 J34.2). URTI symptoms were reported in a minority of patients (7%). Elevated blood pressure was more common among older patients. Conclusions: The risk of nose bleeding increases with age, hypertension, use of anticoagulant medication, and during winter months.