New Prognostic Risk Score for Gastrointestinal Bleeding

The ABC score (age, blood test, comorbidity) outperformed current scores in predicting 30-day mortality in patients with upper or lower GI bleeding.

Current guidelines recommend using prognostic risk scores in the management of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) and lower GI bleeding (LGIB). However, clinicians do not routinely use them as an adjunct to clinical judgment, partly because of the perceived difficulty of the calculations and the existence of multiple scores that are specific to bleeding location and risk level.

Now, investigators have devised the ABC (age, blood test, comorbidity) score to predict 30-day mortality for patients with UGIB or LGIB. The score was derived in 3012 UGIB patients and validated in 4019 UGIB patients and 2336 LGIB patients.

The ABC score assigned points as follows:

Age: 1 point for patients 60–74 years, 2 points for patients ≥75 years
Blood tests: 1 …

Reviewing Author

John R. Saltzman, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardIterative Scopes

Editorial BoardsGastrointestinal Endoscopy; UpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Gastroenterology (Trustee)

OtherVice President of Medical Affairs, 1Globe Health Institute