Mortality in patients who discontinue low-dose acetylsalicylic acid therapy after upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Purpose Discontinuing low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) therapy after upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) may increase the risk of cardiovascular-related death. Our aim was to compare mortality in UK primary care patients who discontinue ASA after UGIB with that in patients who continue therapy. Methods ASA users at the time of UGIB and who were alive 30 days after were selected using The Health Improvement Network. Predictors of survival were assessed using adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results Of 547 ASA users, half did not re-initiate ASA during a mean follow-up of 4.1 years. Increasing age (a 10% increased risk for each yearly increase in age; hazard ratio [HR]: 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.14), female sex (HR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.09-2.38), current smoking (HR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.23-3.63), heavy alcohol use (HR: 3.31; 95% CI: 1.50-7.31), diabetes mellitus (HR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.25-3.00), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.03-2.99) were significantly associated with increased mortality. Most deaths (115/139) occurred in patients taking ASA for secondary prevention. In these patients, mortality tended to be lower among ASA continuer periods (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.34-1.62) and higher among discontinuer periods (HR: 1.37; 95% CI: 0.81-2.30) than among non-users. Current use of clopidogrel was associated with decreased mortality in this population (HR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.28-0.86). Conclusions ASA therapy for secondary prevention should continue after UGIB because the risk of death tends to increase when ASA is stopped. However, a significantly increased risk was not found in these patients, likely owing to the relatively small number of ASA users and deaths that occurred during follow-up. Further studies with larger samples sizes are needed to confirm these findings among UGIB survivors taking ASA at the time of UGIB. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.