ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding may have serious complications. Endoscopic therapy is effective in the hemostasis of active bleeding. We analysed the causes of UGI bleeding and evaluated risk factors and rate of rebleeding in patients with bleeding peptic ulcer. METHODS: Records from 326 patients admitted with upper gastrointestinal bleeding between January 1998 and December 2002 were reviewed. We retrospectively analyzed clinical findings and rebleeding risk factors of peptic ulcers. RESULTS: Common causes of UGI bleeding were esophageal varix (38.0%), peptic ulcer (36.9%), Mallory-Weiss tear (13.8%), stomach cancer (6.4%). Early rebleeding of bleeding peptic ulcer after hemostasis occurred in 23 cases (19.2%). On the basis of univariate analysis, significant predictive factors for early rebleeding were old age (>65) (p=0.034), size of ulcer (>2 cm) (p=0.002), number of ulcer (>1) (p=0.059). In multivariate analysis, old age (odds ratio, OR=2.3), size of ulcer (OR=3.3), number of ulcer (OR=2.6) were independent risk factors of rebleeding. CONCLUSIONS: Common causes of UGI bleeding are esophageal varix, peptic ulcer, Mallory-Weiss tear. Predictive risk factors for early rebleeding in bleeding peptic ulcer may be old age, size of ulcer and number of ulcer.