title: CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTCOME OF PATIENTS WITH UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL BLEEDING AT THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT OF A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN NIGERIA.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a potentially life threatening condition with multiple causes. There is scarcity of health data depicting the clinical characteristics of the condition in African countries. This study was designed to describe the demographic, clinical characteristics and outcome of the patients who presented to our Emergency Department.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of cohort of all patients admitted with upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed from admission to discharge or death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 169 patients with median age of 44.0 years (range 13-89); 25 (15.0%) of them were known peptic ulcer disease patients. Most (69.2%) of the patients were males. The most common presenting symptom was haematemesis (34.9%) followed by melaena (16.6%). There was a history of NSAIDs use in 16.8% and alcohol ingestion in 12%. Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy was performed in 6.8% cases. Twenty-three (13.6%) patients died. There was association between mortality and diastolic blood pressure; more deaths (1/7; 14.3%) occurred in those with diastolic blood pressure > 90mmHg compared with ≤90mmHg (5/70; 7.1%) (P = 0.002). There were more deaths among patients who did not receive blood transfusion (4/40; 10.0%) compared with those who had blood transfusion (2/37; 5.4%) (P=0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The common presentations were haematemesis and melaena, mainly in middle aged men with mortality in one out of seven patients. The high mortality may be due to co-morbidities and poor support services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.; Dept. of Anaesthesia & Critical Care, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rukewe
authors.affiliation: Dept of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan &University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Otegbayo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fatiregun
keywords: Characteristics; Emergency department; Outcome.; Upper gastrointestinal bleeding