الملخص

ABSTRACTObjectives: To assess the age and sex distribution of 200 patients presented with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) in Al-Salam General Hospital in Mosul, and to identify the causes of bleeding through endoscopic examination. Patients and methods: This is a case series study of 200 patients with (AUGIB) at the endoscopy unit in Al-Salam general hospital in Mosul, during the period from April 1999 to January 2009. The endoscopic findings, causes of bleeding and the patients' age and gender were recorded, analysed and the results were compared with other similar studies.Results: The mean age of the patients was 43.68 ± 19.11 years; those aged 60 years and above constituted 25.5% (51/200). Male:female ratio was ~ 2:1 (135 male, 65 female). Gastroduodenitis with erosions and duodenal ulcer (DU) were the main causes of (AUGIB) constituting 42.5% and 30.5% respectively. Actively bleeding (DU) constituted 36.1% (22/61) while actively bleeding erosions constituted 16.5% (14/85) which is a significant difference (p=0.008). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were associated with bleeding in 9% of the cases (18/200). Conclusions: In this sample from Mosul city, (AUGIB) afflicted a relatively younger age group compared with western studies, while male: female ratio was nearly similar (2:1). Gastroduodenitis with erosions dominated the causes of bleeding and (DU) came next in frequency, while (DU) is the main cause in most western studies. The results of this study coincide more with the results from some developing countries. Keywords: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, gastroduodenitis, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.