Represcribing High-Risk Drugs After Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is associated with a variety of medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), low-dose aspirin, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), vitamin K antagonists, clopidogrel, and dipyridamole. These drugs should be avoided after UGIB, when possible, or used with a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) to reduce the risk for rebleeding.

To determine how often the potentially causative drugs listed above are being represcribed after a bleeding episode, investigators in Denmark used data from their own earlier study involving patients admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of serious UGIB. Additional information about the study participants, including medication use, was obtained fro…