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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2015; 21(38): 10890-10897
Published online Oct 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i38.10890
Published online Oct 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i38.10890
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding in Scotland 2000-2010: Improved outcomes but a significant weekend effect
Asma Ahmed, Allan John Morris, Adrian J Stanley, GI Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, G4 0SF Glasgow, United Kingdom
Matthew Armstrong, Ishbel Robertson, ISD Scotland, G2 6QE Glasgow, United Kingdom
Oliver Blatchford, Health Protection Scotland, G2 6QE Glasgow, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Institutional review board statement: All data records were extracted from the permanently linked dataset held by Information Services Division (ISD), Scotland and were managed subject to ISD information governance rules and processes.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that we have no conflicting interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Adrian J Stanley, Consultant Gastroenterologist, GI Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, G4 OSF Glasgow, United Kingdom. adrian.stanley@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Telephone: +44-141-2114073 Fax: +44-141-2115131
Received: January 18, 2015
Peer-review started: January 30, 2015
First decision: March 10, 2015
Revised: April 3, 2015
Accepted: June 10, 2015
Article in press: June 10, 2015
Published online: October 14, 2015
Peer-review started: January 30, 2015
First decision: March 10, 2015
Revised: April 3, 2015
Accepted: June 10, 2015
Article in press: June 10, 2015
Published online: October 14, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: In this study we have used a large administrative database to demonstrate a significant reduction in mortality from upper gastrointestinal bleeding in Scotland from 2000 to 2010, with stable number of admissions over this time. It is interesting to see this trend during a period of increased incidence of variceal bleeding with a rising burden of chronic liver disease. This is the first report from Scotland demonstrating a “weekend effect” for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients admitted at weekends have significantly higher mortality and a greater length of hospital stay compared with those admitted on weekdays, despite adjustments for comorbidities. These data can help inform resource planning for hospitals at weekends.