Gut
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Multicenter Study
Upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage and deprivation: a nationwide cohort study of health inequality in hospital admissions.
Inequalities in health are well recognized in cardiovascular disease and cancer, but in comparison, we have minimal understanding for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Since furthering our understanding of such inequality signposts preventable disease, we investigated in detail the association between upper gastrointestinal bleeding and socioeconomic status. ⋯ Both variceal and non-variceal haemorrhage hospitalization rates increased with deprivation, and there was a similar gradient in all areas of the country and in all age bands. The existence of such a steep gradient suggests that there are opportunities to reduce hospitalizations down to the low rates seen in the most affluent, and thus, there is the potential to prevent almost 10,000 admissions and over 1000 deaths a year.