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The incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and perforation has been affected by advances such as proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy and better treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection. However, the incidence of lower GI complications has not been well described.
To track the incidence of both upper and lower GI complications, investigators analyzed data from patients hospitalized with GI bleeding or perforation at 10 institutions in Spain from 1996 through 2005. Overall, these hospitals served roughly 3.3 million to 3.7 million people each year.
During this 10-year period, 30,498 patients had 34,544 GI bleeding or perforation events: 51% upper GI, 17% lower GI, and 32% undefined. The incidence, per 100,000 people, decreased for upper…