IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USE OF ANALGESICS AND NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS AND ACUTE UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL-BLEEDING - AFINNISH CASE-CONTROL PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

Background: Our object was to study the role of non-steroidal anti-inf lammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as a risk factor in upper gastrointestinal bl eeding. Methods: Forty-eight patients with acute bleeding due to esoph agitis, gastric or duodenal ulcer, or erosions and 156 age- and sex-ma tched control patients from the same emergency units were interviewed about the history of ulcer disease, smoking and alcohol habits, and us e of analgesics or NSAIDs. Results Twenty-four patients (50%) and 90 c ontrols (57.6%) had no previous upper abdominal symptoms (NS). There w ere more heavy smokers among patients (n = 9; 18.8%) than controls (n = 7; 4.5%) (p < 0.01). Five patients (10.4%) and one control (0.6%) ha d taken more than 20 drinks during the week before admission (p < 0.00 1). Twenty-nine patients (62.5%) and 81 controls (51.9%) had used some analgesics during the week before admission (NS). There was no differ ence in the duration of the use of analgesics in the patients and cont rols. Conclusion: The results do not support the concept that NSAIDs a re a major factor associated with serious upper gastrointestinal bleed ing.