Are higher doses of proton pump inhibitors better in acute peptic bleeding? / ¿Vale la pena utilizar dosis altas de inhibidores de la bomba de protones en la hemorragia péptica aguda?

Although there is broad consensus about the benefits of proton pump inhibitors in acute upper peptic bleeding, there is still controversy over their optimal dosing. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified six systematic reviews including 27 randomized trials addressing this question. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded high-dose proton pump inhibitors probably result in little or no difference in re-bleeding rate or mortality. The risk/benefit and cost/benefit balance probably favor use of low-doses.

Si bien existe consenso acerca de la utilidad de los inhibidores de la bomba de protones en la hemorragia digestiva péptica aguda, persiste la controversia sobre cuál es la dosis óptima. Utilizando la base de datos Epistemonikos, la cual es mantenida mediante búsquedas en 30 bases de datos, identificamos seis revisiones sistemáticas que en conjunto incluyen 27 estudios aleatorizados evaluando esta pregunta. Realizamos un metanálisis y tablas de resumen de los resultados utilizando el método GRADE. Concluimos que las dosis altas de inhibidores de la bomba de protones probablemente resultan en poca o nula diferencia en el riesgo de resangrado y mortalidad. El balance riesgo/beneficio y costo/beneficio son probablemente desfavorables a la utilización de dosis altas.

An economic analysis of inadequate prescription of antiulcer medications for in-hospital patients at a third level institution in Colombia.

INTRODUCTION: The prescription and costs of antiulcer medications for in-hospital use have increased during recent years with reported inadequate use and underused. AIM: To determine the patterns of prescription-indication and also perform an economic analysis of the overcost caused by the non-justified use of antiulcer medications in a third level hospital in Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study of prescription-indication of antiulcer medications for patients hospitalized in "Hospital Universitario San Jorge" of Pereira during July of 2012. Adequate or inadequate prescription of the first antiulcer medication prescribed was determined as well as for others prescribed during the hospital stay, supported by clinical practice guidelines from the Zaragoza I sector workgroup, clinical guidelines from the Australian Health Department, and finally the American College of Gastroenterology Criteria for stress ulcer prophylaxis. Daily defined dose per bed/day was used, as well as the cost for 100 beds/day and the cost of each bed/drug. A multivariate analysis was carried out using SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: 778 patients were analyzed, 435 men (55.9 %) and 343 women, mean age 56.6 +/- 20.1 years. The number of patients without justification for the prescription of the first antiulcer medication was 377 (48.5 %), and during the whole in-hospital time it was 336 (43.2 %). Ranitidine was the most used medication, in 438 patients (56.3 %). The cost/month for poorly justified antiulcer medications was € 3,335.6. The annual estimated cost for inadequate prescriptions of antiulcer medications was € 16,770.0 per 100 beds. CONCLUSION: A lower inadequate prescription rate of antiulcer medications was identified compared with other studies; however it was still high and is troubling because of the major costs that these inadequate prescriptions generates for the institution.