An assessment of the age, blood tests, and comorbidities (ABC) score for gastrointestinal bleeding in patients receiving anticoagulant/ antithrombic therapy

Abstract

Background: The main aim of this study was to examine the effect of anticoagulant and/or antithrombic drug administration on gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding severity and the mortality rate.

Methods: This study included 217 patients hospitalized at the Clinic of Internal Medicine at the University Clinical Hospital Mostar during the period from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021, with a diagnosis of manifest GI bleeding and anemia of unknown cause where an endoscopy revealed bleeding in the GI system. Data were collected from the hospital information system based on age, blood tests, and comorbidities (ABC) score parameters and were scored. The patients were divided into two groups, with one undergoing anticoagulant and/or antithrombotic therapy and the other not receiving these therapies, and the ABC score values were compared.

Main findings: The total share of patients receiving anticoagulant and/or antithrombotic therapy was only 25.93%, which is statistically significantly less than the share of patients without treatment. Disorders of consciousness were statistically significantly more common in patients undergoing anticoagulant and/or antithrombotic therapy than in those without treatment (p=0.001). The subjects with therapy also achieved a significantly higher ABC sum than those without (p=0.001), while there was no statistically significant difference in the mortality rate between the two groups (p=0.335).

Principal conclusions: Patients using anticoagulant and/or antithrombic therapy achieved a statistically significantly higher ABC score sum compared to those not receiving such therapy. However, no significant differences in mortality rates were found between the two groups of patients.