To Study the Clinical Profile of Patients Presenting with Upper GI Bleed to Emergency Department

BACKGROUND It has been seen that Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is one of the most common gastrointestinal emergencies. There is raised incidence of peptic ulcer with increased frequency of bleeding from it. The Glasgow-Blatchford score (GBS) is a screening tool to assess the likelihood that a patient with an acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding will need to have medical intervention. OBJECTIVE - To study the clinical profile of patients presenting with upper GI bleeding to our emergency department. - To find out outcome of patients with upper GI bleed using Glasgow-Blatchford score. METHODS This was a prospective study conducted in patients who came to our emergency department presenting with upper GI bleeding. A total of 180 patients (76 %males and 24 % females) were studied. The study included all the age groups above 18 years of age. The Glasgow-Blatchford score for all patients with upper GI bleed was calculated. RESULT Majority of our patients were in the age group of 61-80 years. Data analysis showed that the common clinical presentation of these patients were malena and hematemesis.42 % of patients had peptic ulcer, 22 % with esophageal varices.68 % patients have undergone blood transfusion. According to the Glasgow-Blatchford scoring done, 12 % had a score of 20. Among 180 patients, mortality was 4 % and they had GBS greater than20. CONCLUSION Upper GI bleeding is more common in patients coming to emergency department than lower GI bleeding. Peptic ulcer (42 %) is the most common cause resulting in upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This is followed by esophageal varices (22 %). Males (76 %) are more commonly affected. Most of the patients belonged to age between 60-80 years. Hematemesis (71 %) was the most common presenting symptom in these patients. This study showed that, mortality rate (4 %) is more in patients with Glasgow-Blatchford scoring greater than20. The Glasgow-Blatchford scoring system was judged to be useful for distinguishing between the high-risk group and low risk group of patients with upper GI hemorrhage. Key words: upper GI bleed,