Prevalence of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the Medical Ward of Ali Abad Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a common emergency medical condition that may require hospitalization, resuscitation and results in high patient morbidity. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is approximately four times as common as bleeding from the lower gastrointestinal tract. Well-known causes of UGIB include duodenal ulcers (DU), Gastric ulcers (GU), erosive mucosal disease (EMD), esophageal varices due to portal hypertension, and Mallory Weiss syndrome. Upper GI bleeding usually presents with hematemesis and melena.

Objective: This study aims to find the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Method and Materials: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The data collected from the Ali Abad Teaching Hospital archive included 921 patients' documents admitted to the medical ward from 21/3/2021 till 20/3/2022. We did the data entry and analysis through SPSS software.

Results: This study found that the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding is 3.9%, with the mean age of cases being 36 years. In addition, the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in male patients was 47.2%, and in female patients, it was 52.8%.

Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding was 3.9%, with most cases being female patients.