Prevalence of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Paktia Regional Hospital (Paktia, 2024 – 2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58342/MJ.V.3.I.2.10Keywords:
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding, Peptic ulcer disease, Endoscopy, Hematemesis, Melena, NSAIDsAbstract
Background and Objective: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a common medical emergency originating from the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum. Local evidence is important for timely diagnosis, referral, and management in provincial hospitals.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence, demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, and etiological patterns of UGIB among admitted patients at Paktia Regional Hospital.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using medical records of patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Department from 2024 to 2025. Patients aged above 18 years with a diagnosis of UGIB were included. Data were extracted through a structured data-collection form and analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2016.
Findings/ Result: Among 1,085 admitted patients, 31 were diagnosed with UGIB, giving a prevalence of 2.86%. Eighteen patients (58.07%) were male and 13 (41.93%) were female. The highest number of cases occurred in the 51–60-year age group. Among 12 patients who underwent endoscopy, peptic ulcer disease was the leading cause, accounting for 4 cases (33.33%). The most common clinical presentations were hematemesis, abdominal pain, and melena.
Conclusion: UGIB in this study was more frequent among middle-aged men, and peptic ulcer disease was the most common endoscopic cause. Strengthening endoscopy services, improving medical record documentation, and preventing unsafe NSAID use may improve early diagnosis and management.
References
Laine L, Barkun AN, Saltzman JR, Martel M, Leontiadis GI. ACG clinical guideline: upper gastrointestinal and ulcer bleeding. Am J Gastroenterol. 2021;116(5):899–917. https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000001245
Barkun AN, Almadi M, Kuipers EJ, Laine L, Sung JJ, Tse F, et al. Management of nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding: guideline recommendations from the International Consensus Group. Ann Intern Med. 2019;171(11):805–822. https://doi.org/10.7326/M19-1795
Gralnek IM, Stanley AJ, Morris AJ, Camus M, Lau J, Lanas A, et al. Endoscopic diagnosis and management of nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guideline update. Endoscopy. 2021;53(3):300–332. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1369-5274
Blatchford O, Murray WR, Blatchford M. A risk score to predict need for treatment for upper-gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Lancet. 2000;356(9238):1318–1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02816-6
Rockall TA, Logan RF, Devlin HB, Northfield TC. Risk assessment after acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Gut. 1996;38(3):316–321. https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.38.3.316
Hreinsson JP, Kalaitzakis E, Gudmundsson S, Björnsson ES. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding: incidence, etiology and outcomes in a population-based setting. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2013;48(4):439–447. https://doi.org/10.3109/00365521.2012.763174
van Leerdam ME. Epidemiology of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2008;22(2):209–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpg.2007.10.011
Ugiagbe RA, Omuemu CE. Etiology of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, South-Southern Nigeria. Niger J Surg Sci. 2016;26(2):29–32. https://doi.org/10.4103/njss.njss_7_15
Bhutta S, Jamil M, Aziz K, Uddin W. An etiological study of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. 2012;24(1):31–33.
Dewan KR, Patowary BS, Bhattarai S. A study of clinical and endoscopic profile of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Kathmandu Univ Med J. 2014;12(45):21–25. https://doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v12i1.13628
Vora P, Pietila A, Peltonen M, Brobert G, Salomaa V. Thirty-year incidence and mortality trends in upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding in Finland. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(10):e2020172. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.20172
Jairath V, Martel M, Logan RF, Barkun AN. Why do mortality rates for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding differ around the world? A systematic review of cohort studies. Can J Gastroenterol. 2012;26(8):537–543. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/862905
Sung JJ, Tsoi KK, Ma TK, Yung MY, Lau JY, Chiu PW. Causes of mortality in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding: a prospective cohort study of 10,428 cases. Am J Gastroenterol. 2010;105(1):84–89. https://doi.org/10.1038/ajg.2009.507
Lau JY, Leung WK, Wu JC, Chan FK, Wong VW, Chiu PW, et al. Omeprazole before endoscopy in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. N Engl J Med. 2007;356(16):1631–1640. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa065703
Sung JJ, Lau JY, Ching JY, Wu JC, Lee YT, Chiu PW, et al. Continuation of low-dose aspirin therapy in peptic ulcer bleeding: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-152-1-201001050-00179
Scally B, Emberson JR, Spata E, Reith C, Davies K, Halls H, et al. Effects of gastroprotectant drugs for the prevention and treatment of peptic ulcer disease and its complications: a meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018;3(4):231–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(18)30037-2
Lanas A, Dumonceau JM, Hunt RH, Fujishiro M, Scheiman JM, Gralnek IM, et al. Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018;4:18020. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2018.20
Stanley AJ, Laine L. Management of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. BMJ. 2019;364:l536. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l536
Orpen-Palmer J, Stanley AJ. A review of risk scores within upper gastrointestinal bleeding. J Clin Med. 2023;12(11):3678. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12113678
Saydam ŞS, Molnar M, Vora P. The global epidemiology of upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding in general population: a systematic review. World J Gastrointest Surg. 2023;15(4):723–739. https://doi.org/10.4240/wjgs.v15.i4.723
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 رحیمالله ستانکزی،وحیدالله حافظ
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
