Published online Jun 27, 2020. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i6.288
Peer-review started: January 6, 2020
First decision: March 15, 2020
Revised: April 10, 2020
Accepted: May 14, 2020
Article in press: May 14, 2020
Published online: June 27, 2020
Processing time: 173 Days and 10.3 Hours
Acute variceal bleeding is a major complication of portal hypertension and is a leading cause of death in patients with cirrhosis. There is limited data on the outcomes of patients with esophageal variceal bleeding in teaching versus nonteaching hospitals.
To understand if the teaching status of a hospital has better or poorer outcomes in management of patients with variceal bleeding.
Compare outcomes of mortality, length of stay and cost of hospitalization amongst patients presenting with acute variceal bleeding in cohorts of teaching vs nonteaching hospitals.
We looked at retrospective data from a large national database of patients that presented with acute variceal bleeding.
The mortality, length of stay and cost of hospitalization was higher amongst patients with acute variceal bleeding that presented to a teaching hospital. When controlling for comorbidities and hospital characteristics this remained statistically significant.
Teaching hospitals did worse in outcomes for patients with variceal bleeding when compared to non-teaching hospitals. Further details may need to be deciphered as to what could contribute to these findings.
Prospective studies at teaching and non-teaching institutions when controlling for severity of illness can shed light on whether teaching hospitals need to improve their delivery of care for patients with variceal bleeding.