A pragmatic assessment of proton pump inhibitors vs. histamine type 2 receptor antagonists on clinically important gastrointestinal bleeding and mortality when used for stress ulcer prophylaxis in the ICU.

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 1%-5% of critically ill patients experience clinically important gastrointestinal bleeding (CIGB). This study assessed the effectiveness and safety of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) compared to histamine type 2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) for prevention of CIGB in mechanically ventilated patients. DESIGN: This is a retrospective, single-center, pharmacoepidemiologic study. SETTING: This study was carried out in six intensive care units (ICUs). PATIENTS: Critically ill adults admitted between 9/1/14 and 9/1/19 who received PPIs or H2RAs within 24 h of intubation and for ≥48 h were included in this study. INTERVENTION: PPIs or H2RAs for stress ulcer prophylaxis. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Primary outcomes were CIGB occurring 48 h after ICU admission and hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were pneumonia, Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), acute kidney injury, myocardial infarction/ischemia, thrombocytopenia, and delirium. Outcomes were defined using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) and Tenth Revision (ICD-10)-codes with manual cross-reference for a hemoglobin drop, transfusion, or hemodynamic compromise to further define CIGB. Of 3873 patients, 2061 (53.2%) received PPIs. CIGB was rare but higher in the PPI group (0.34% vs. 0%, RR = 1, 95% CI, 1-1; p = 0.013); however, substantial group differences existed possibly predisposing the PPI group to CIGB. Hospital mortality was higher in the PPI group (42.1% vs. 29.1%, RR = 1.23, 95% CI, 1.17-1.29; p < 0.0001). PPIs remained an independent risk factor for mortality after multivariate adjustment (RR = 1.61, 95% CI, 1.39-1.88; p < 0.0001). Rates of secondary outcomes were similar between groups except thrombocytopenia (4.3% vs. 2.2%, RR = 1.02, 95% CI, 1.01-1.03; p = 0.0003) and delirium (83.7% vs. 78.1%, RR = 1.34, 95% CI, 1.18-1.53; p < 0.0001) that were higher in the PPI group. CONCLUSION: Proton pump inhibitors were associated with CIGB; however, the overall rate of CIGB was low. Compared to H2RAs, PPIs were associated with hospital mortality. Further identification of appropriate selection criteria for ulcer prophylaxis and comparisons of pharmacologic prevention strategies are warranted.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Transcatheter Arterial Embolization Techniques for the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a common medical emergency associated with significant mortality. Transcatheter arterial embolization first was introduced by Rosch et al as an alternative to surgery for upper GI bleeding. The clinical success in patients with GI bleeding treated with transcatheter arterial embolization previously has been reported. However, there are no cost-effectiveness analyses reported to date. Here we report cost-effectiveness analysis of N-butyl 2-cyanoacrylate glue (NBCA) and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (Onyx) versus coil (gold standard) for treatment of GI bleeding from a healthcare payer perspective. METHODS: Fixed-effects modeling with a generalized linear mixed method was used in NBCA and coil intervention arms to determine the pooled probabilities of clinical success and mortality with complications with their confidence intervals, while the Clopper-Pearson model was used for Onyx to determine the same parameters. Models were provided by the "Meta-Analysis with R" software package. A decision tree was built for cost-effectiveness analysis, and Microsoft Excel was used for probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The cost-effective option was determined based on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and scatter plots of incremental cost versus incremental quality-adjusted life-years. RESULTS: Comparing scatter plots and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio results, -$1024 and -$1349 per quality-adjusted life-year for Onyx and N-butyl 2-cyanoacrylate glue, respectively, Onyx was the least expensive and most effective intervention. CONCLUSION: Onyx was the dominant strategy regardless of threshold values. Our analyses provide a framework for researchers to predict the target clinical effectiveness for early-stage TAE interventions and guide resource allocation decisions.

Complications of colonoscopy in Japan: An analysis using large-scale health insurance claims data.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In Japan, screening colonoscopy for colorectal cancer is expected to reduce colorectal cancer mortality, although its complication rate has not been sufficiently examined. The aim of this study is to analyze severe complications due to colonoscopy. METHODS: As a study population, we retrospectively used commercially anonymized health insurance claims data covering 5.71 million patients from January 2005 to August 2018. We extracted patients who received colonoscopy with lesions resection or without treatment. Main outcomes were rates of hemorrhage, perforation, fatal events, and their risk factors. RESULTS: Among 341 852 colonoscopy without treatment in 260 128 patients (mean age: 49.6 ± 11.7 years), the rates of hemorrhage, perforation, and fatal events were 0.0059% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0031-0.0085), 0.0032% (95% CI 0.0011-0.0052), and 0.00029% (95% CI 0-0.0012), respectively. Regarding hemorrhage, compared with the rate for patients <50 years old (0.0050%), the rates for those 50-59, 60-69, and ≥70 years old were 0.0095% (P = 0.17), 0.0031% (P = 0.17), and 0%, respectively. Regarding perforation, compared with patients <50 years old (0.0056%), the rates for those 50-59, 60-69, and ≥70 years old were 0%, 0.0015% (P = 0.99), and 0.0102% (P = 0.99), respectively. A multivariate analysis for risk factors showed no significant findings for hemorrhage and perforation without treatment. Among 123 087 colonoscopy with lesions resection in 102 058 patients (mean age: 53.7 ± 9.3 years), the rates of hemorrhage, perforation, and fatal events were 0.136% (95% CI 0.1157-0.1572), 0.033% (95% CI 0.0228-0.0437), and 0.00081% (95% CI 0-0.0035), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis using health insurance claims data demonstrated the safety of colonoscopy.

Utility of Endoscopy in Hospitalized Patients with Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage and Pulmonary Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIH) has been reported as one of the most common GI complications in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). There is paucity of data on the national burden of GIH in patients with PH. We aimed to assess the prevalence, trends and outcomes of endoscopic interventions in patients with PH who were admitted with GIH. METHOD: We queried National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2005 to 2014 and identified the patients hospitalized with primary or secondary discharge diagnosis of PH (ICD 9 CM Code: 416.0, 416.8, and 416.9). Using Clinical Classification Software Coding system (153) patients with concurrent diagnosis of GIH were then identified. We studied the prevalence and trends of GIH in PH, factors associated with GIH, use of endoscopy, factors associated with utilization of endoscopic interventions, endoscopy outcomes including mortality, and overall healthcare burden. RESULTS: Out of 7,586,973 PH hospitalizations 3.2% (N = 246,358) had concurrent GIH, with a rising prevalence of GIH in PH patients during the last decade. Clinical predictors for GIH in PH included older age, congestive heart failure, anticoagulation therapy and concurrent alcohol abuse. Mean length of stay (LOS) in PH patients hospitalized with GIH was significantly higher than without GIH (8.6 vs. 6.4 days, p < 0.01) along with a significant increase in hospitalization cost ($20,189 vs. $14,807, p < 0.01). Similarly, odds of in-hospital mortality increase by ~ 1.5 times in PH patients with GIH than those without it (adjusted odds ratio [aOR: 1.45, 95%CI: 1.43-1.47]). Endoscopic interventions were performed in 48.6% of patients with PH and GIH during their hospitalization. Older patients were more likely to undergo endoscopy, as well as the patients who received blood transfusion, and those with hypovolemic shock. Patients with acute respiratory failure and acute renal failure were less likely to get endoscopy. Mean LOS in patients undergoing endoscopic intervention was significantly higher than those who did not receive any intervention (8.7 vs. 8.4 days, p < 0.01), without a substantial increase in hospitalization cost ($20,344 vs. $20,041, p < 0.01). Also, there was a significant decrease in in-hospital mortality in patients undergoing endoscopic interventions. CONCLUSION: Concurrent GIH in patients with PH increases length of stay; healthcare costs and increases in-hospital mortality. Use of endoscopic interventions in these patients is associated with reduced length of stay, in-hospital mortality without significantly increasing the overall health care burden and should be considered in hospitalized patients with PH who are admitted with GIH. Future studies comparing GIH patients with and without PH should be done to assess if PH is a risk factor for worse outcomes. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: No IRB required due to use of national de-identified data.

Mortality, Risk Factors and Disparities Associated with Esophageal Variceal Bleeding in Children's Hospitals in the US.

OBJECTIVES: To use a large administrative database to determine the mortality, risk factors, and comorbidities of esophageal variceal bleeding in children. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using Pediatric Health Information System data from 50 tertiary children's hospitals in the US. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes (FY 2020 ICD-10 update and revision 10 of ICD-9) from 2004 through 2019 identified children 18 years and younger with variceal bleeding and complications. Univariate analyses used the Student t -test for continuous variables (age) and the χ2 test for categorical variables (all others). A mixed-effects linear regression was performed for multiple variables. RESULTS: There were 1902 patients who had 3399 encounters for esophageal variceal bleeding. The mortality rate for variceal bleeding was 7.3%, increasing to 8.8% by 6 weeks; any mortality during the study was 20.1%. Transfusion was required in 54.7% of encounters, and 42.6% were admitted to the intensive care unit. Variceal bleeding encounters were complicated by peptic ulcer disease (6.9%), bacteremia (11.4%), acute renal failure (5.1%), mechanical ventilation (18%), ascites (21.3%), and peritonitis (3.3%). Multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression showed that Black race (OR, 2.59; P < .001) or Hispanic ethnicity (OR, 2.31; P = .001), but not sex, household income, or insurance type, were associated with increased mortality. Bacteremia, peritonitis, mechanical ventilation, acute renal failure, and transfusion were associated with higher mortality (ORs of 2.29, 2.18, 1.93, 6.33, and 1.81, respectively; P < .001, .005, .011, <.001, and .005, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The 6-week mortality rate for variceal bleeding in children is 8.8%. Black or Hispanic children are at higher risk of dying. Serious morbidities associated with variceal hemorrhage impact mortality. These data can inform consideration of prophylactic or therapeutic interventions for children at risk.

Effect of tranexamic acid in patients with colonic diverticular bleeding: A nationwide inpatient database study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) remains unknown in patients with colonic diverticular bleeding, which is one of the most common causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. We investigated the efficacy of TXA for patients with colonic diverticular bleeding. METHODS: We performed a nationwide observational study using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database and identified patients who were admitted for diverticular bleeding from 2010 to 2018. Patients who received TXA on the day of admission comprised the TXA group, and the remaining patients comprised the control group. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included severe bleeding, blood transfusion within 7 days of admission, length of stay, and hospitalization costs. Propensity score matching was performed to compare outcomes between the two groups. RESULTS: Overall, 78 291 patients met our eligibility criteria, and 30 526 matched pairs were created by one-to-one propensity score matching. After matching, there was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between the two groups (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-1.30); however, TXA administration was associated with significantly lower proportions of severe bleeding events (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.89-0.99), blood transfusions (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.84-0.92), shorter length of stay (difference, -0.23 days; 95% CI, -0.01 to -0.44 days), and lower total hospitalization costs (difference, -$233; 95% CI, -$153 to -$314). CONCLUSIONS: Although TXA was not significantly associated with lower in-hospital mortality, it may reduce severe bleeding, blood transfusions, length of stay, and hospitalization costs.

Real-world on-treatment and initial treatment absolute risk differences for dabigatran vs warfarin in older US adults.

PURPOSE: Trials and past observational work compared dabigatran and warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation, but few reported estimates of absolute harm and benefit under real-world adherence patterns, particularly in older adults that may have differing benefit-harm profiles. We aimed to estimate risk differences for ischemic stroke, death, and gastrointestinal bleeding after initiating dabigatran and warfarin in older adults (a) when patients adhere to treatment and (b) under real-world adherence patterns. METHODS: In a 20% sample of nationwide Medicare claims from 2010 to 2015, we identified beneficiaries aged 66 years and older initiating warfarin and dabigatran. We followed individuals from initiation until death or October 2015 (initial treatment, IT) and separately censored individuals' follow-up after drug switches and gaps in supply (on-treatment, OT). We applied inverse probability of treatment and standardized morbidity ratio weights, as well as inverse probability of censoring weights, to estimate two-year risk differences (RDs) for dabigatran vs warfarin. RESULTS: We identified 10,717 dabigatran and 74,891 warfarin initiators. Weighted OT RDs suggested decreased ischemic stroke risk for dabigatran vs warfarin; IT RDs indicated increased or no change in ischemic stroke risk. Regardless of follow-up approach and weighting strategy, risk of death appeared lower and risk of gastrointestinal bleeding appeared higher when comparing dabigatran vs warfarin. CONCLUSIONS: Dabigatran use was associated with lower risks of mortality and ischemic stroke in routine care when older adults stayed on treatment. IT analyses suggested that these benefits may be diminished under real-world patterns of switching and discontinuation.

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. METHODS: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. FINDINGS: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82-1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). INTERPRETATION: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme.

Portal Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease Significantly Increase the Risk of Early Unplanned Readmissions in GAVE- Related Admissions.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is an uncommon cause of non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding that is characterized by dilation of blood vessels in the antrum of the stomach. Various co-morbidities are associated with the development of GAVE, but the impact of co-morbidities on unplanned GAVE readmissions is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the national incidence, 30-day mortality rate, and 30-day readmissions related to GAVE. Secondary outcomes were evaluation of predictors of early readmission, hospital length of stay (LOS) and total hospitalization charges. METHODS: Using the 2016 National Readmission Database, we analyzed discharges for GAVE. ICD-10 CM codes were utilized to identify associated comorbidities and inpatient procedures during the index admission. 30-day readmissions were identified for GAVE. Secondary measures of outcomes including LOS and hospitalization charges were also calculated. Risk factors for early readmission were also evaluated using multivariate analysis to adjust for confounders. RESULTS: A total of 18,375 index admissions for GAVE were identified. 20.49% (n=3,720) of the discharged patients were readmitted within 30 days. 30-day mortality of GAVE-related admissions was 1.82% (n=335). Early readmissions accounted for 20,157 hospital days along with $189 million in hospitalization costs. Multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of portal hypertension (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.37-1.93; p=0.0001) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.44-1.82; p<0.0001) significantly increased the odds of early readmission. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis demonstrates that the overall 30-day mortality rate of GAVE-related admissions is relatively low, but the 30-day readmission rate is significantly high. Patients with comorbid CKD and portal hypertension have a significantly higher risk of readmission. Further studies are required to determine if therapeutic interventions such as argon plasma coagulation or radiofrequency ablation during the index admission may prevent readmissions in these specific subgroups.

Nutrition Risk Assessment Using the Modified NUTRIC Score in Cirrhotic Patients with Acute Gastroesophageal Variceal Bleeding: Prevalence of High Nutrition Risk and its Independent Prognostic Value.

Malnutrition is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with liver cirrhosis. Relevant data about nutrition risk in critically ill cirrhotic patients are lacking. The modified Nutrition Risk in Critically Ill (mNUTRIC) score is a novel nutrition risk assessment tool specific for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and prognostic significance of nutrition risk in cirrhotic patients with acute gastroesophageal variceal bleeding (GEVB) using mNUTRIC scores computed on admission to the intensive care unit. The major outcome was 6-week mortality. One-hundred-and-thirty-one admissions in 120 patients were analyzed. Thirty-eight percent of cirrhotic patients with acute GEVB were categorized as being at high nutrition risk (a mNUTRIC score of ≥5). There was a significantly progressive increase in mortality associated with the mNUTRIC score (χ2 for trend, p < 0.001). By using the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the mNUTRIC demonstrated good discriminative power to predict 6-week mortality (AUROC 0.859). In multivariate analysis, the mNUTRIC score was an independent factor associated with 6-week mortality. In conclusion, the mNUTRIC score can serve as a tool to assess nutrition risk in cirrhotic patients with acute GEVB.

Effect of Chronic Hematologic Malignancies on In-Hospital Outcomes of Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

In view of hemorrhagic and prothrombotic tendencies, ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients with chronic hematologic malignancies (CHM) are felt to be at a higher risk and hence denied standard reperfusion strategies. In-hospital outcomes of CHM patients presenting with STEMI are unclear. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample data files from 2003 to 2014 were used to extract adult patients who presented with a primary diagnosis of STEMI. Patients who had a diagnosis of CHM defined as chronic myelogenous leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, chronic monocytic leukemia, and multiple myeloma were identified. The primary study outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. Inverse probability weighting-adjusted binary logistic regression was performed to identify independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Of 2,715,807 STEMI patients included in the final analyses, 11,974 (0.4%) patients had a diagnosis of CHM. Patients with CHM were significantly older, had a higher prevalence of co-morbidities, and had a significantly higher unadjusted in-hospital mortality (14.9% vs 9.0%; p <0.001). After adjusting for co-morbidities, CHM did not independently predict a higher in-hospital mortality (odds ratio = 1.02, 95% confidence interval = 0.96 to 1.09; p = 0.461). In patients with CHM who presented with STEMI, percutaneous coronary intervention was found to be associated with a significant reduction in in-hospital mortality (odds ratio = 0.22, 95% confidence interval = 0.18 to 0.27; p <0.001) (c-statistic = 0.81). In conclusion, CHM patients presenting with STEMI should be treated with similar treatment strategies as those without CHM, including revascularization if indicated, as there appears to be a sizable outcome advantage with this approach.

[Prediction and feature selection for fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital via machine learning].

OBJECTIVE: To propose a method of prediction for fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital and a method of feature selection via machine learning models. METHODS: 728 digestive tract hemorrhage samples were extracted from the first aid database of PLA General Hospital, and 343 patients among them were diagnosed as fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital. A total of 64 physiological or laboratory indicators were extracted and screened. Based on the ten-fold cross-validation, Logistic regression, AdaBoost and XGBoost were used for classification prediction and comparison. XGBoost was used to search sequence features, and the key indicators for predicting fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital were screened out according to the importance of the indicators during training. RESULTS: Logistic regression, AdaBoost and XGBoost all get better F1.5 score under each feature input dimension, among which XGBoost had the best effect and the highest score, which was able to identify as many patients as possible who might have fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital. Through XGBoost iteration results, the Top 30 indicators with high importance for predicting fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital were ranked. The F1.5 scores of the first 12 key indicators peaked at iteration (0.893), including hemoglobin (Hb), calcium (CA), red blood cell count (RBC), mean platelet volume (MPV), mean erythrocyte hemoglobin concentration (MCH), systolic blood pressure (SBP), platelet count (PLT), magnesium (MG), lymphocyte (LYM), glucose (GLU, blood gas analysis), glucose (GLU, blood biochemistry) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). CONCLUSIONS: Logistic regression, AdaBoost and XGBoost could achieve the purpose of early warning for predicting fatal gastrointestinal bleeding recurrence in hospital, and XGBoost is the most suitable. The 12 most important indicators were screened out by sequential forward selection.

Upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage is associated with poor outcomes among patients with acute cholangitis: a nationwide analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Acute cholangitis (AC) and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (UGIH) are common emergencies encountered by gastroenterologists. We aimed to evaluate the impact of UGIH on in-hospital mortality, morbidity and resource utilization among patients with AC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Adult admissions with a principal diagnosis of AC were selected from the National Inpatient Sample 2010-2014. The exposure of interest was significant UGIH (requiring red blood cell transfusion). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were significant UGIH's incidence, morbidity (shock, prolonged mechanical ventilation and total parenteral nutrition), and resource utilization (length of hospital stay and total hospitalization charges and costs). Confounders were adjusted for using propensity matching and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 50 375 admissions were included in the analysis, 747 of whom developed significant UGIH. After adjusting for confounders, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of in-hospital mortality for patients who developed UGIH was 7.1 (95% confidence interval: 2.1-23.9, P<0.01) compared with those who did not. Significant UGIH was associated with substantial increase in morbidity [shock: aOR: 4.1 (2.1-9.3), P<0.01, prolonged mechanical ventilation: aOR: 5.8 (2.2-12.4), P<0.01, total parenteral nutrition: aOR: 4.7 (1.9-10.7), P<0.01], and resource utilization [mean adjusted difference in: length of hospital stay: 7.01 (4.72-9.29), P<0.01 and total hospitalization charges: $81 818 ($58 109-$105 527), P<0.01 and costs: $25 230 ($17 805-$32 653), P<0.01]. Similar results were obtained using multivariate regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Onset of significant UGIH among patients hospitalized with AC has a detrimental effect on in-hospital mortality, morbidity and resource utilization.

The Impact of Obesity on Mortality and Other Outcomes in Patients With Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage in the United States.

GOALS: To quantify in patients with nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (NVUGIH) the relationship between obesity and mortality, disease severity, treatment modalities, and resource utilization. BACKGROUND: NVUGIH is the most common gastrointestinal emergency. STUDY: Adults with a principal diagnosis of NVUGIH were selected from the 2014 National Inpatient Sample. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were hemorrhagic shock, prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV), upper endoscopy [esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)], radiologic treatment, surgery, length of hospital stay (LOS), and total hospitalization costs and charges. Confounders were adjusted for using multivariable regression analyses. RESULTS: In total, 227,480 admissions with NVUGIH were included, 11.70% of whom were obese. Obese and nonobese patients had similar odds of mortality (aOR: 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-1.12; P=0.30), EGD within 24 hours of admission (aOR: 0.95; CI: 0.89-1.01; P=0.10), radiologic treatment (aOR: 1.06; CI: 0.82-1.35; P=0.66), and surgery (aOR: 1.27; CI: 0.94-1.70; P=0.11). However, obese patients had higher odds of shock (aOR: 1.30; CI: 1.14-1.49; P<0.01), PMV (aOR: 1.39; CI: 1.18-1.62; P<0.01), undergoing an EGD (aOR: 1.27; CI: 1.16-1.40; P<0.01), needing endoscopic therapy (aOR: 1.18; CI: 1.09-1.27; P<0.01), a longer LOS (0.31 d; CI: 0.16-0.46 d; P<0.01), higher costs ($1075; CI: $636-$1514; P<0.01), and higher charges ($4084; CI: $2060-$6110; P<0.01) compared with nonobese patients. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity is not an independent predictor of NVUGIH mortality. However, obesity is associated with a more severe disease course (shock and PMV), higher rates of EGD and endoscopic therapy use, and significant increases in resource utilization (hospital LOS, total hospitalization costs, and charges).

Endoscopy Is Relatively Safe in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke and Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIH) is reported to occur in 1-8% of patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). AIS is considered to be a relative contraindication to GIE. AIMS: Evaluate the outcomes of gastrointestinal endoscopy (GIE) in patients hospitalized with AIS and GIH. METHODS: Patients hospitalized with AIS and GIH were included from the National Inpatient Sample 2005-2014. Primary outcome measure was in-hospital mortality in patients with AIS and GIH who underwent gastrointestinal endoscopy. Secondary outcomes were (1) resource utilization as measured by length of stay (LOS) and total hospitalization costs and (2) to identify independent predictors of undergoing GIE in patients with AIS and GIH. Confounders were adjusted for by using multivariable regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 75,756 hospitalizations were included in the analysis. Using a multivariate analysis, the in-hospital mortality was significantly lower in patients who underwent GIE as compared to those who did not [aOR: 0.4, P < 0.001]. Patients who underwent GIE also had significantly shorter adjusted mean LOS [adjusted mean difference in LOS: 0.587 days, P < 0.001]. Patients with AIS and GIH who did not undergo GIE had significantly higher adjusted total hospitalization costs. [Mean adjusted difference in total hospitalization costs was $5801 (P < 0.001).] Independent predictors of undergoing GIE in this population were male gender, age > 65 years, Asian or Pacific race, hypovolemic shock, need for blood transfusion and admission to urban non-teaching hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Gastrointestinal endoscopy can be safely performed in a substantial number of patients with AIS and GIH.

[Analysis of core indicators of fatal gastrointestinal rebleeding in emergency from the perspective of big data].

OBJECTIVE: To explore a method of screening the core indicators in the emergency database that can be used to evaluate the in-hospital fatal gastrointestinal rebleeding by using the big data algorithm. METHODS: Based on the emergency database of the Chinese PLA General Hospital, through the big data retrieval technology, all the 647 patients diagnosed as gastrointestinal bleeding in the emergency database were enrolled, except those who were admitted to the hospital for the first time and whose hemoglobin (Hb) was less than 90 g/L or did not undergo Hb test. Among them, there were 313 in the rebleeding group (fatal rebleeding in the hospital) and 334 in the non-rebleeding group (no fatal rebleeding in the hospital). General data of patients were collected, including gender, age, physical signs, blood gas, test index collection data, and the identification of gastrointestinal rebleeding. The fusion algorithm of rough set algorithm, genetic algorithm, and cellular automaton algorithm were used to calculate the key indicators that affect gastrointestinal rebleeding. RESULTS: A total of 499 indicators were calculated by machine fusion algorithm, after screening 5 times repeatedly, 24 key indicators were screened out, 3 of which were vital signs, including systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), temperature (T); 7 key indicators of blood routine, including white blood cell count (WBC), eosinophil (EOS), monocyte (MONO), Hb, hematocrit (HCT), red cell distribution width (RDW), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH); 3 key indicators of coagulation, including prothrombin time (PT), plasma fibrinogen (FIB), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT); 5 key indicators of biochemical, including myoglobin (MYO), chloride, glucose (GLU), serum albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TBil); and 6 key indicators of blood gas, including pH, lactate (Lac), oxygen saturation (SO2), base excess (BE), bicarbonate (HCO3-), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2). CONCLUSIONS: Using big data technology, 24 core indicators for evaluating the fatal gastrointestinal rebleeding in hospitals can be screened out from the emergency database, providing new ideas and methods for clinical diagnosis of the disease.

Assessment of prognostic performance of Albumin-Bilirubin, Child-Pugh, and Model for End-stage Liver Disease scores in patients with liver cirrhosis complicated with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

OBJECTIVE: The Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) score was developed recently to assess the severity of liver dysfunction. We aimed to assess its prognostic performance in patients with liver cirrhosis complicated with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) while comparing it with Child-Pugh (CP) and Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective unicentric study, including consecutive adult patients with cirrhosis admitted for UGIB between January 2011 and November 2015. Clinical, analytical, and endoscopic variables were assessed and ALBI, CP, and MELD scores at admission were calculated. RESULTS: This study included 111 patients. During the first 30 days of follow-up, 12 (10.8%) patients died, and during the first year of follow-up, another 10 patients died (first-year mortality of 19.8%).On comparing the three scores, for in-stay and 30-day mortality, only the ALBI score showed statistically significant results, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.80 (P<0.01) for both outcomes. For first-year mortality, AUC for ALBI, CP, and MELD scores were 0.71 (P<0.01), 0.64 (P<0.05), and 0.66 (P=0.02), respectively, whereas for global mortality, AUC were 0.75 (P<0.01), 0.72 (P<0.01), and 0.72 (P<0.01), respectively. On comparing the AUC of the three scores, no significant differences were found in first-year mortality and global mortality. CONCLUSION: In our series, the ALBI score accurately predicted both in-stay and 30-day mortality, whereas CP and MELD scores could not predict these outcomes. All scores showed a fair prognostic prediction performance for first-year and global mortality. These results suggest that the ALBI score is particularly useful in the assessment of short-term outcomes, with a better performance than the most commonly used scores.

Effect of Admission Time on the Outcomes of Liver Cirrhosis with Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Regular Hours versus Off-Hours Admission.

Background and Aims: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) is a lethal complication of liver cirrhosis. We aimed to compare the outcomes of patients with liver cirrhosis and AUGIB who were admitted to hospital on regular hours and off-hours. Methods: This retrospective study screened all cirrhotic patients with AUGIB who were admitted to our hospital from January 2010 to June 2014 for the test cohort and from December 2014 to March 2018 for the validation cohort. A 1:1 propensity score matching analysis was performed to adjust the Child-Pugh and MELD scores. In-hospital mortality, 5-day rebleeding rate, length of stay, and total payment were primary outcomes. Results: Overall, 826 and 173 patients with liver cirrhosis and AUGIB were included in the test and validation cohorts, respectively. After propensity score matching, 226 and 40 patients were included in the test and validation cohorts, respectively. The overall analysis of the test cohort found significantly higher Child-Pugh score (P=0.006), 5-day rebleeding rate (18.69% versus 10.72%, P=0.001), and total payment (¥25,906.83 versus ¥22,017.42, P<0.001) in patients admitted on off-hours. By contrast, the overall analysis of the validation cohort did not find any difference in Child-Pugh score, 5-day rebleeding, in-hospital mortality, length of stay, or hospital payment between patients admitted on regular hours and off-hours. Similarly, the propensity score matching analyses of both test and validation cohorts found no difference in these primary outcomes between the two groups. Conclusions: Off-hours admission might not be negatively associated with the outcomes of patients with liver cirrhosis and AUGIB.

Endoscopic Cyanoacrylate Injection with Post-injection Audible Doppler Assessment of Gastric Varices: A Single-Institution Experience.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gastric varices (GV) have higher rates of morbidity and mortality from hemorrhage than esophageal varices. Several studies have shown the safety and efficacy of cyanoacrylate (CA) injection for acute gastric variceal hemorrhage. We report data from our experience with CA injection for GV before and after routine use of post-injection audible Doppler assessment (ADA) for GV obturation and describe long-term outcomes after this therapy. METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients who had documented GV, underwent CA injection, and had at least 2 weeks of follow-up. We recorded and analyzed the survival and rebleeding rates with patient demographics, clinical data, and endoscopy findings between two groups of patients who were categorized by CA injection prior to and after inception of the ADA technique. RESULTS: Seventy-one patients were identified with 16 patients analyzed in a group where ADA was not used (Pre-ADA) and 55 analyzed where ADA was used (Post-ADA). No rebleeding events were observed within 1 week of initial CA injection. No embolic events were reported after any initial CA injection within 4 weeks. The rate of bleed-free survival at 1 year was 69.6% in the Pre-ADA group and 85.8% in the Post-ADA without statistical significance. The all-cause 1-year mortality was 13.8% in the Pre-ADA group and 10.7% in the Post-ADA group without statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: ADA of CA-injected GV does not appear to significantly affect adverse events or clinical outcomes; however, our findings are limited by small sample size and cohort proportions allowing for significant type II statistical error. Further prospective investigation is required to determine the impact of ADA on clinical outcomes after GV obturation.

Urgent colonoscopy in patients with lower GI bleeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lower GI bleeding (LGIB) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality. Colonoscopy is indicated in all hospitalized patients with LGIB, yet the time frame for performing colonoscopy remains unclear. Prior studies of outcomes in urgent versus elective colonoscopy have yielded conflicting results and were often underpowered. Our study objective was to compare several outcomes between urgent and elective colonoscopy in patients hospitalized for LGIB. METHODS: Systematic review and meta-analysis were performed on studies that compared urgent and elective colonoscopy in patients with LGIB. Pooled rates were calculated for specific outcomes, and rate ratios were determined for selected comparison groups. RESULTS: Twelve studies met inclusion criteria, with a total sample size of 10,172 patients in the urgent colonoscopy arm and 14,224 patients in the elective colonoscopy arm. Urgent colonoscopy was associated with increased use of endoscopic therapeutic intervention (RR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.08-2.67). There were no significant differences in bleeding source localization (RR, 1.08; 95% CI, .92-1.25), adverse event rates (RR, 1.05; 95% CI, .65-1.71), rebleeding rates (RR, 1.14; 95% CI, .74-1.78), transfusion requirement (RR, 1.02; 95% CI, .73-1.41), or mortality (RR, 1.17; 95% CI, .45-3.02). CONCLUSIONS: Urgent colonoscopy appears to be safe and well tolerated, but there is no clear evidence that it alters important clinical outcomes.