Recurrent Non-Variceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding among Patients Receiving Dual Antiplatelet Therapy

Background: Patients undergoing dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) may experience recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). We investigated the clinical characteristics and risk factors for recurrent non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGIB) in patients who had experienced NVUGIB while receiving DAPT. Methods: We enrolled patients diagnosed with NVUGIB while receiving DAPT between 2006 and 2020. Definite bleeding was confirmed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy in all NVUGIB patients. Results: A total of 124 patients were diagnosed with NVUGIB while receiving DAPT. They were predominantly male (n = 103, 83.1%), bleeding mostly from the stomach (n = 94, 75.8%) and had peptic ulcers (n = 72, 58.1%). After the successful hemostasis of NVUGIB, 36 patients (29.0%) experienced at least one episode of recurrent upper GIB, 19 patients (15.3%) died, and 7 (5.6%) patients had a bleeding-related death. Multivariate analysis showed that age was a significant factor for re-bleeding (odds ratio [OR], 1.050; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.001-1.102; p-value: 0.047), all-cause mortality (OR, 1.096; 95% CI: 1.020-1.178, p = 0.013), and re-bleeding-related mortality (OR, 1.187; 95% CI: 1.032-1.364, p-value: 0.016). In Kaplan-Meier analysis, the cumulative probabilities of re-bleeding, death, and bleeding-related death were significantly higher in patients aged 70 and older (p = 0.008, <0.001, and 0.009, respectively). Conclusions: Clinicians should be cautious about re-bleeding and mortality in elderly patients who experience NVUGIB while receiving DAPT.