Upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one of the most common reasons for admission to the emergency department, and frequently leads to an important clinical problem because of high costs of diagnosis, treatment and hospitalization. In order to determine the severity of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, low cost and non-invasive parameters are needed. Red cell distribution width (RDW) and mean platelet volume (MPV) are the parameters which can be used for this purpose. In this study, we aimed to determine the levels of MPV, RDW and other whole blood parameters in patients with upper GI bleeding and moreover we planned to research likely association between these blood parameters and endoscopic diagnosis, erythrocyte transfusion requirements, length of hospital stay. 108 patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and 36 age and sex matched healthy controls were included in the study. The mean age of patients was 65.65 ± 21.58 years. 64 patients were (59.2%) male and 44 were (40.8%) female. Patients' hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct) levels were significantly lower than healthy controls (p<0.001) and there was no significant change in the number of platelets. Among patients with upper GI bleeding, MPV and RDW levels were significantly increased compared to healthy controls (7.9±1.1 fL and 7.0±0.6 fL, p<0.001 and 14.3±2.8% and 12.8±1.8%, p<0.001). Increased MPV levels, but not increased RDW levels, were positively correlated with length of hospital stay (r=0.706) and need for transfusion of packed red blood cells (r=0.681). In the light of these results, increased MPV levels may indicate need for hospitalization and transfusion requirements in patients with upper GI bleeding who admitted to the emergency room.

Keywords: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding; mean platelet volume; red cell distribution width; transfusion