ASPIRIN, NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS, AND EPISTAXIS - A REGIONAL RECORD LINKAGE CASE-CONTROL STUDY

To assess the relationship between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug s (NSAIDs) and spontaneous epistaxis in adults over 50 years old, a ca se control study was carried out by using a record linkage database fo r the population of Tayside, Scotland, which included 319,465 people. The study group consisted of 326 patients who were hospitalized with e pistaxis between May 1989 and December 1992. but who had not previousl y been hospitalized with this diagnosis. Six community controls and 4 hospital controls, matched for age and sex to each case, were used. Pr evious exposure to prescribed aspirin and other NSAIDs was investigate d. There was a significant association between aspirin exposure and ep istaxis when either community or hospital controls were used (p <.001) . Patients who had aspirin prescriptions had a relative risk of hospit al admission for epistaxis of between 2.17 and 2.75. depending on the control group used. No association between non-aspirin NSAIDs and epis taxis was evident with either control group.