Objectives: Current guidelines recommend colonoscopy within 24 h for acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding; however, the evidence in support for colonic diverticular hemorrhage (CDH) indications remains insufficient. We use a nationwide database to investigate the effectiveness of early colonoscopy for CDH.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database and identified patients who were admitted for CDH from 2010 to 2017. Patients who underwent colonoscopy on the same day of admission (early group) were compared with those who underwent colonoscopy on the next day of admission (elective group). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and secondary outcomes were length of hospital stay, total hospitalization cost, fasting period, and the prevalence of re-colonoscopy, interventional radiology or abdominal surgery. Propensity score matching was used to adjust for confounders.
Results: We identified 74,569 eligible patients. Patients were divided into the early (n = 46,759) and elective (n = 27,810) groups. After propensity score matching, 27,696 pairs were generated. In-hospital mortality did not significantly differ between the two groups (0.49% in the early group vs. 0.41% in the elective group; risk difference 0.08%; 95% confidence interval -0.02 to 0.19; P = 0.14). The early group had a significantly longer length of hospital stay, higher total hospitalization cost, longer fasting period, and higher prevalence of re-colonoscopy and abdominal surgery.
Conclusions: The effectiveness of early colonoscopy conducted on the same day of admission for CDH could not be confirmed. Early colonoscopy may not result in favorable outcomes in CDH patients.
Keywords: colonic diverticular bleeding; colonic diverticular hemorrhage; early colonoscopy.
© 2022 Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society.