Keywords
Blood Urea Nitrogen
Serum Albumin
Prognosis
How to Cite
Abstract
Objective: Finding the prognostic role of the BAR score in predicting in-hospital death and clinical outcomes in patients suffering with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (UGIB).
Methodology: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was carried out at DUHS, civil hospital, Karachi and was conducted for period of 6 months. We included 193 adult patients aged 18–70 years diagnosed with UGIB using consecutive sampling. Demographics, comorbidities, symptom duration, and laboratory investigations (including serum bun and albumin) were recorded. Bar score was calculated and patients were followed until discharge or death. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 25. Statistical analyses were performed with Pearson correlation, chi-square tests to assess associations and prognostic utility.
Results: The mean age was 55.7 ± 11.9 years and 52.8% of the patients were males. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were observed in 39.4% and 50.8% respectively. Mean bar score was 14.9 ± 7.5, while in-hospital mortality was detected in 56% of patients. Patients with bar >10.5 have higher mortality (p = 0.000). Bar significantly correlated with mortality (r = −0.73, p < 0.001) and moderately with age (r = 0.58), serum bun (r = 0.67) and hospital stay (r = 0.37) but inversely with serum albumin (r = −0.56).
Conclusion: In this research the bar score was shown to be a simple yet powerful prognostic marker in UGIB patients. Higher values of bar were significantly associated with mortality status, older age, longer duration of symptoms, and longer duration of hospital stay.