MATERIALS AND METHODS
Hundred and ninety seven patients admitted to our Hospital which is a tertiary center in İzmir province of Turkey between January 2017 and May 2018 with the diagnosis of AGI bleeding were retrospectively evaluated. Primary GI bleeding was not required as the cause of hospitalization and patients with GIS bleeding who were admitted for other causes were also included in the study. This is a retrospective study and both data during hospital stay and in the three months following discharge of patients presenting to the hospital between these dates were evaluated. Patients under 18 years and with incomplete access to medical data were not included in the study. In addition, consent was obtained for this study from the ethics committee for non-invasive clinical trials of XXXX Medical Faculty (date of consent: 13.07.2017 number: 2017/18-16). Patient data were kept confidential and the study was conducted in accordance with Helsinki declaration.
Patient related data were obtained from the hospital electronic medical records system (Probel; version 1.0; İzmir, Turkey) by entering GI bleeding related ICD diagnostic codes (ICD R58, ICD K92.0, ICD K92.1, ICD K92.2). Patient age, gender, bleeding symptoms at presentation, medications used and particularly anticoagulant drugs, related diseases, presence of prior GI bleeding, examination findings at presentation, hemogram and biochemical values, service admitted to because of bleeding, time interval between presentation and endoscopy, endoscopic findings and type of endoscopic treatment if applied, additional radiologic investigations if present, medical therapies applied for GI bleeding, blood transfusions, most recent diagnosis of GI bleeding, mortality or discharge, duration of hospital stay, final hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Htc) values at discharge, anemia treatment recommended at discharge and control Hb and Htc values within 3 months after discharge were evaluated.
According to WHO criteria, anemia during hospital admission and at discharge has been accepted as a hemoglobin (Hb) level under 13 g/dL in men and under 12 g/dL in women 12.
The primary endpoint of this study is to establish rates of anemia induced by blood loss from GI bleeding in patients presenting or followed with the diagnosis of GIS bleeding. The secondary endpoint is to establish whether patients found to have anemia received treatment for anemia at the hospital or at discharge.
Descriptive statistics were used for interpreting the data in our study. Data were analyzed using Statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 22.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) package program. Numerical variables were summarized with percentage distribution and quantitative variables with mean and standard deviation. Mc Nemar test was used for dependent group analysis of the numerical variables. Compatibility was analyzed with Kappa. Repeated Measures Variance Analysis was used for dependent group analysis of quantitative variables. Significance level was p<0.05.