2.2. Patient Data

Clinical data collected in the prospective cohort were age, gender, alcohol consumption, smoking habit, H. pylori infection, hemoglobin level, comorbidity (including Charlson comorbidity score), and types of medications at study entry (antithrombotic agents, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and antacids). H. pylori infection was diagnosed by the serum levels of anti-H. pylori antibodies, the urea breath test, or the rapid urease test. We also accumulated information concerning endoscopic findings, hemostatic procedure, and treatment outcome (transfusion volume, fasting period, and hospitalization period). All patients in the prospective cohort resumed antithrombotic agents after emergency endoscopic hemostasis without a cessation period (group A).

In the present study, we used the clinical data of our retrospective cohort of 154 patients on antithrombotic treatment who underwent emergency endoscopic hemostasis for nonvariceal UGIB from January 2002 through December 2013 at Saga Medical University Hospital as group B (Supplementary Tables 1–3) [11]. These patients were similarly treated but antithrombotic agents were transiently discontinued after endoscopic hemostasis in accordance with the JGES guideline at that time [12, 13].