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Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has become the standard of care for many patients with coronary artery disease. Anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy is recommended after these procedures to maintain vascular patency. However, data suggest that anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy increase risk for gastrointestinal bleeding.
To identify risk factors for such bleeding, investigators evaluated the records of all 5673 patients who underwent PCI at an Australian tertiary care hospital from 1998 to 2005. Of these patients, 67 (1.2%) experienced GI bleeds within 30 days after PCI and were considered index cases. Each patient was matched with three controls who had undergone PCI procedures 2 days before or 2 days after the index case…