Humera Rafique, Anam Ashraf, Syed Shan Raza Rizvi, Mujeeb Ullah Makki.
Determinants of Increasing Incidence of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Lahore.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(1):535-7.

Background: Acute uppergastrointestinal bleeding is the one of the most common medical emergencies and remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Magnitude of it is on continuous rise in Pakistan due to increase in various underlying diseases which lead to UGIB. Various presentations of it include haematemesis, melena or both. Documented causes may be esophagitis, gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers and esophageal varices due to hepatitis C. Aim : To determine the causes of UGIB and to document preventable ones also. Study setting and design: Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in medical wards of Services Hospital Lahore. Methodology: Seventy patients of UGIB were included in study and data was analyzed using SPSS Results: There were 58.6% females and 41.4% males. Majority 54.4% of them were above 50 years of age. Majority of patients i.e 65.7% were known patients of hepatitis C. Vaccination status was satisfactory in 2.9% only. Heartburn and NSAIDs use was seen in 31.4% and 24.3% patients respectively. Final diagnosis was esophageal varices due to hepatitis C in 80%, NSAIDs associated peptic ulcer in 17.1% . Conclusion: Hepatitis C is most common cause of UGIB and presents with variceal bleed rather than ulcer bleed.

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