Trends in acute non-variceal bleeding in Israel in 1996-2007: a significant decrease in the rates of bleeding peptic ulcers

Out-of-hours endoscopy for non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding

BACKGROUND

Most countries lack a well-coordinated approach to out-of-hours endoscopy. Economic constraints and lack of resources have been identified as important barriers.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the performance evaluation of an out-of-hours emergency endoscopy model of care.

DESIGN

During a 3 year period (January 2010 to December 2012), data from consecutive outpatients (n = 332) with non-variceal acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding admitted or transferred to a single referral hospital were prospectively collected.

RESULTS

34% (n = 113) were direct admissions whereas 66% (n = 219) were transferred from other hospitals. Median time to upper endoscopy esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was 6 h and 7.7 h for direct admissions and transferred, respectively. EGD was performed within 24 h in 90% of the patients. Rebleeding, in-hospital mortality, 30 day mortality and need for surgery were respectively 9.8%, 5.8%, 7.4%, and 6.6% and were not significantly different between the two groups. Age, malignancy, and moderate to high clinical Rockall risk score were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality in both groups. Age remained as an important predictor of main outcomes in transferred patients, while comorbidities differed according to admission status and predictable outcomes.

CONCLUSION

This gastroenterology emergency model improved access and equity to out-of-hours endoscopy in an effective, safe, and timely way, recognized by the rates and the homogeneity observed in the outcomes, between transferred patients and direct admissions.

The changing histological pattern of gastric polyps in an ethnically heterogeneous population

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Variation in the prevalence of various types of gastric polyps worldwide may reflect different etiologies. Here, the authors report the dynamic changes in histological distribution of gastric polyps over time and by ethnicity for individuals who underwent gastroscopies between 1994 and 2009 at two hospitals in Jerusalem, Israel. During this time period, the proportion of patients receiving proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) increased while the proportion of patients infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) decreased.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Pathological reports of biopsies from 50,071 consecutive gastroscopies were reviewed.

RESULTS

Gastric polyps were detected in 727 individuals. The yearly prevalence of gastric polyps was ≤ 1% between 1994 and 2001 and ≥ 2% from 2004 to 2009, of which overall 66% were hyperplastic polyps and 23% fundic gland polyps (FGPs). FGPs were diagnosed exclusively in the Jewish population. From 2001 to 2004, an increase in the absolute number of newly discovered hyperplastic and FGPs per year was observed. However from 2005, a divergent trend of changes was observed: While the proportion of patients with hyperplastic polyps dropped from 0.72 during the 2001-2004 period to 0.62 during the 2005-2009 period (p = 0.02), the proportion of patients with FGPs at these time periods increased from 0.16 to 0.33 (p = 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

The yearly prevalence of gastric polyps in Jerusalem has recently doubled. This occurred mainly due to the increasing prevalence of FGPs. The changing epidemiology of gastric polyps is probably related to the interaction between genetic factors and fluctuating environmental factors like H. pylori infection rates and exposure to PPIs.