Prediction of the Severity of Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Reassessing Dominant Wisdom

Excerpt

Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB), a potentially life-threatening condition, frequently requires hospitalization. GIB mostly encompasses upper (UGIB) and lower (LGIB) gastrointestinal bleeding. UGIB primarily includes gastroesophageal varices, ulcers, and cancers, whereas LGIB includes diverticular bleeding, ischemic, infectious, and ulcerative colitis, enteritis, hemorrhoids, rectal ulcers, and colorectal cancers. Since the most important therapeutic consideration is the severity of GIB, appropriate scoring systems and predictive factors are needed to improve clinical outcomes [1, 2]. In this issue of Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Yu et al. [3], using the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database studied the prognostic value of the red cell distribution width (RDW), a statistical measure of the volume variability of red cells, on thirty- and ninety-day mortality following GIB. …