Assesment of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Introduction: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is an important emergency problem that can occur at any age in childhood and requires urgent treatment for the underlying cause. Etiological causes of gastrointestinal bleeding vary by age and geographic region. In this study; we aimed to investigate the demographic characteristics, etiological causes, endoscopic intervention results, and the relationship between analgesic/antipyretic drug use and bleeding in patients admitted to the pediatric emergency department with upper gastrointestinal bleeding.Methods: The records of patients aged 1 month to 18 years who presented to our pediatric emergency department with upper gastrointestinal bleeding between January 2017 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic features, complaints at admission, etiological reasons, endoscopy findings, diagnoses, and antipyretic/analgesic drug use were recorded.Results: There were 108 patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and 53.7% of the patients were male. The mean age was 76.7 +/- 58.3 months. Hematemesis was present in 100 patients. Symptoms of the patients; vomiting was present in 82.4%, upper respiratory tract infection in 36.1%, fever in 29.6%, and abdominal pain in 25.9%. There were 52 patients with a history of antipyretic and/or analgesic drug use. An endoscopic examination was performed in 74 patients. In patients who underwent endoscopic examination; pathological changes were detected in 26 of 32 patients who used drugs and 30 of 42 patients who did not use drugs.Conclusion: In patients presenting to the pediatric emergency department with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, the bleeding is usually acute and self-limiting, but requires prompt diagnosis and treatment. Approximately half of the patients in our study had a history of antipyretic/analgesic drug use in etiology. When the endoscopic findings of drug users and non-users were compared, no statistically significant difference was observed in terms of pathological findings.