Objective   To investigate the risk factors of in-hospital mortality in patients with combined ischemic heart disease (IHD) and gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB).

  Methods   Patients who were hospitalized and received treatment for IHD combined with GIB at West China Hospital, Sichuan University between Jan. 2015 and Jan. 2018 were included in the study. Information concerning their baseline data, comorbidities, history of anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication, laboratory data on admission, and in-hospital treatments was collected. In-hospital death of all causes was taken as the primary endpoint event of the study, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the independent risk factors of mortality during their hospital stay for this specific type of patients. Then, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn and the area under curve (AUC) was calculated accordingly.

  Results   A total of 395 patients met the enrollment criteria and were included in the study. Among them, 342 patients were discharged after their condition improved, and 53 patients died during hospitalization. Analysis of the cause of death revealed that cardiogenic death was the leading cause of death (54.7%), which was followed by infection-caused death (24.5%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) had a 2.527-fold risk of mortality compared with patients with non-acute coronary syndrome (odds ratio OR=2.527, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.152-8.277, P=0.043), and patients with comorbidity of chronic renal disease (CKD) had a 2.89-fold risk of mortality (OR=2.89, 95%CI:1.187-7.037, P=0.019). It was also shown the higher level of WBC count (OR=1.123, 95%CI: 1.057-1.193, P<0.001) and lower hemoglobin (OR=1.014, 95%CI: 1.003-1.025, P=0.013) on admission were related to in-hospital mortality. On the other hand, endoscopy (OR=0.305, 95%CI: 0.103-0.881, P=0.029) was identified as a protective factor in hospital treatment that decreased the risk of in-hospital mortality. ROC curve was drawn by combining the aforementioned variables to predict in-hospital mortality, which had an AUC of 0.79.

  Conclusion   The actual type of IHD being STEMI, the patient’s condition being complicated with chronic kidney disease, and having high white blood cells and low hemoglobin levels upon admission were considered independent risk factors for in-hospital death outcome of IHD patients complicated with GIB, while undergoing endoscopy during hospitalization was considered as a protective factor.