Paediatric Patients with Gastrointestinal Bleeding: 4-year Experience of a Single Centre

Objective: Gastrointestinal bleeding can be seen in children of all ages, and it is one of the most frequent reasons for referral to a paediatric gastroenterologist. The aim of this study was to determine the demographic and aetiological factors of the paediatric patients admitted to our clinic with upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: This study included 150 patients who were admitted with upper and/or lower gastrointestinal bleeding between January 2010 and April 2014. Results: This research included 63 (42%) girls and 87 (58%) boys. The mean age of the patients was 11.0 +/- 4.6 years old. With regard to the aetiology of these upper gastrointestinal bleeding cases, Helicobacter pylori was detected in 25.3%, and 80% of the H. pylori positive patients were older than 10 years old. Fourteen (70%) of the 20 patients with peptic ulcer disease were older than 10 years old. Oesophageal varices were detected in 8 (5.3%) of these gastrointestinal bleeding patients, while 23 (15.3%) patients had drug use histories prior to bleeding. Twenty (25%) of the patients were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, 4 (5%) were diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and 10 (12.5%) had colon polyps. Ninety percent of the polyps were localised in the rectosigmoid colon. Conclusion: Peptic ulcer disease was the most common aetiology of the paediatric patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The majority of the cases with lower gastrointestinal bleeding were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease; therefore, ulcerative colitis plays an important role in paediatric lower gastrointestinal bleeding cases.