Antiinflammatory drugs and gastrointestinal bleeding: a comparison of aspirin and ibuprofen.

Gastrointestinal blood loss provoked by short-term and long-term therapy with aspirin and ibuprofen was compared in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Blood loss was assessed by isotope counting of four-day stool collections after infusion of 51Cr-labeled autologous erythrocytes. After two weeks on drug or after one year on drug, aspirin consistently caused more bleeding than ibuprofen.