Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Endoscopic Hemostasis for the Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding Were Not Influenced by the Timing of Hospital Emergency Visits: A Situation Prevailing in Japan.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to determine differences in the prognosis of patients in Japan who underwent emergency endoscopic hemostasis (i) during regular hours versus off hours and (ii) as outpatients versus hospitalized patients.

METHODS: The present retrospective study included 443 patients who underwent emergency endoscopic hemostasis for non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding from January 2008 to December 2014. These patients were classified into 2 groups: hospitalized patients and outpatients. The outpatients were further subclassified into those who visited the hospital during regular hours and those who visited during off hours.

RESULTS: The outcomes of outpatients who underwent emergency hemostasis during off hours did not differ from patients treated during regular hours. Multivariate analysis revealed that outcomes of hospitalized patients, including mortality, need for blood transfusion and length of hospitalization, were worse than those of outpatients; it also revealed that patient age, malnutrition rate and prevalence of diabetes and neoplasms were higher among hospitalized patients than those in outpatients.

CONCLUSIONS: The clinical outcomes of patients who underwent emergency endoscopic hemostasis for upper gastrointestinal bleeding during off hours did not differ from those of patients treated during regular hours. Outcomes were worse among hospitalized patients, mainly because of their bad general condition.