[One Year Treatment of Nose Bleeding in the ENT Emergency Departments of East Thuringia].

Objective: Aim of the study was to analyse the medical care situation of patients suffering from epistaxis in everyday clinical practice in ENT emergency departments. Material and Methods: In the year 2009, 690 patients with 862 occurrences of epistaxis sought help in the 2 East Thuringian ENT emergency departments in Jena and Gera (60% male, average age: 60 years). The patients' characteristics were evaluated retrospectively with a focus on comorbidity, long-term medication and treatment measures. Results: The incidence of epistaxis treatment in the ENT emergency departments was 121 28 per 100 000 habitants of East Thuringia. Die Inzidenz für die Epistaxisbehandlung in den Notfallambulanzen der Ostthüringer Kliniken lag bei 121 28 pro 100 000 Einwohner Ostthüringens The most common comorbidity was hypertension (68% of all patients). 27% of all patients were taking antiplatelet drugs and 19% anticoagulants. We identified the 3-fold combination of a medication with anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs (p=0.015), Morbus Osler (p=0.011) and thrombocytopaenia (p=0.009) as independent risk factors for recurrent epistaxis. The therapeutic measures the patients led to success rates of more than 90%. Conclusion: The actual ENT emergency treatment of epistaxis seems to be efficient. The escalation of anticoagulant long-term drug therapy has resulted in more admittance to the inpatient sector. More analyses of medical care situations and factors have to be carried out to develop a patient stratification for the daily clinical practice as well as a general guideline for the management of epistaxis.