A Cross Sectional Study on Requirement of Blood Transfusion in Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding using Blatchford Bleeding Score

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The Glasgow-Blatchford bleeding score (GBS) was developed in 2000 to predict the need for hospital-based intervention (transfusion, endoscopic therapy or surgery) or death following UGIB. Objective: To compare the requirement of blood transfusion in patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal bleeding using Blatchford scoring system. To determine the association of GB score with the outcomes of UGI. Materials and methods: A Cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Medical ICU/Wards of Pushpagiri Medical College from January 2016 to June 2017. All Patients admitted with upper gastrointestinal bleeding during this period was selected as sample size. A detailed history was taken, and a thorough clinical examination was done, complemented by relevant investigation as required for the study. Unpaired t-test and Chi square test were used as Test of significance. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant using Epi-info 7 software. Results: Majority of patients were in the age group of 41 to 50 years (28.6 %). 72.6% were males and the remaining females. 54.8% of patients did not require blood transfusion at all, 20.2% was transfused 1 unit of packed red cells and only 1.2% with 4 units. 59.5% of patients who presented Abraham Varghese V, Prasanna Hegde. A Cross Sectional Study on Requirement of Blood Transfusion in Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding using Blatchford Bleeding Score. IAIM, 2019; 6(5) 149-153. Page 150 with Upper GI bleed had oesophageal/fundal varices and the rest (40.5%) had a non-variceal etiology. The minimum Blatchford scoring on admission was 1 and the maximum score was 16. Significant association between initial Blatchford scoring and outcome (p value 0.001) was noted. Conclusion: Patients should be triaged in casualty with Blatchford scoring. High score helps in predicting the requirement of blood transfusion and outcome of patients so that they can be managed judiciously.