Clinical study of upper gastrointestinal bleeding associated with low-dose aspirin in Japanese patients.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to clarify the prevalence and various clinical factors of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) associated with low-dose aspirin (LDA) treatment.

METHODOLOGY

There were 6,807 patients who were under treatment with LDA at our hospital between January 2003 and November 2007. They had kept taking the LDA or started treatment in the study period and kept taking the whole period of observation. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was performed 453 patients of these patients, and 71 were diagnosed as LDA-associated UGIB. We examined the prevalence and various clinical factors of UGIB associated with LDA treatment.

RESULTS

The occurrence rate of UGIB was 0.209 UGIB per 100 patient-years at least. The multivariate odds ratio of LDA-associated UGIB was 3.318 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.650-6.671, p = 0.0008) for a history of peptic ulcer, 0.086 (95% CI: 0.011-0.652, p = 0.0176) for the use of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) with LDA, and 0.253 (95% CI: 0.113-0.569, p = 0.0009) for the use of a histamine type 2 receptor antagonist (H2RA) with LDA.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that a history of peptic ulcer significantly increases the risk of LDA-associated UGIB. Regular use of a PPI or a H2RA effectively decreases the risk.