Brief Article
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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2012; 18(27): 3578-3584
Published online Jul 21, 2012. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i27.3578
Weekend and nighttime effect on the prognosis of peptic ulcer bleeding
Young Hoon Youn, Yong Jin Park, Jae Hak Kim, Tae Joo Jeon, Jae Hee Cho, Hyojin Park
Young Hoon Youn, Yong Jin Park, Hyojin Park, Department of Internal Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 135-720, South Korea
Jae Hak Kim, Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeonggi-do 410-773, South Korea
Tae Joo Jeon, Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul 139-707, South Korea
Jae Hee Cho, Department of Internal Medicine, Kwandong University Myungji Hospital, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gyeonggi-do 412-270, South Korea
Author contributions: Youn YH and Park YJ contributed equally to this work; Youn YH and Park YJ analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Kim JH, Jeon TJ and Cho JH retrieved clinical information from each center; Park H designed the research, and Youn YH finally approved the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Young Hoon Youn, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 712 Eonjuro, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul 135-720, South Korea. dryoun@yuhs.ac
Telephone: +82-2-20193453 Fax: +82-2-34633882
Received: December 29, 2011
Revised: March 23, 2012
Accepted: April 20, 2012
Published online: July 21, 2012
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate whether weekend or nighttime admission affects prognosis of peptic ulcer bleeding despite early endoscopy.

METHODS: Retrospective data collection from four referral centers, all of which had a formal out-of-hours emergency endoscopy service, even at weekends. A total of 388 patients with bleeding peptic ulcers who were admitted via the emergency room between January 2007 and December 2009 were enrolled. Analyzed parameters included time from patients’ arrival until endoscopy, mortality, rebleeding, need for surgery and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS: The weekday and weekend admission groups comprised 326 and 62 patients, respectively. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups, except for younger age in the weekend group. Most patients (97%) had undergone early endoscopy, which resulted in a low mortality rate regardless of point of presentation (1.8% overall vs 1.6% on the weekend). The only outcome that was worse in the weekend group was a higher rate of rebleeding (12% vs 21%, P = 0.030). However, multivariate analysis revealed nighttime admission and a high Rockall score (≥ 6) as significant independent risk factors for rebleeding, rather than weekend admission.

CONCLUSION: Early endoscopy for peptic ulcer bleeding can prevent the weekend effect, and nighttime admission was identified as a novel risk factor for rebleeding, namely the nighttime effect.

Keywords: Early endoscopy; Nighttime effect; Peptic ulcer bleeding; Rebleeding; Weekend effect