Caracterización de los pacientes hospitalizados por sangrado digestivo alto

introduction: the high digestive bleeding contributes to a great number of admissions in the general surgery services. objective: to characterize hospitalized patients under this diagnosis, according to selected variables. methods: a descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study with 88 hospitalized patients due to high digestive bleeding, who were admitted at general surgery service from ¨dr. juan bruno zayas alfonso¨ general teaching hospital in santiago de cuba, was carried out during the biennium 2007-2008. results: male sex was predominant in a proportion 2:1 with regard to female sex in elderly. among the personal pathological background, hypertension and duodenal ulcer were relevant. coffee and alcohol consumption constituted the most common toxic habits. most of the patients experienced their first episode in melena form caused by the duodenal ulcer, followed by those who had hematemesis and melena due to other causes. the most frequent diagnosis were duodenal peptic ulcer, gasthritis, and esophageal varices. conclusions: associated chronic diseases and toxic habits can cause high digestive bleeding, in which case, magnitude will be in correspondence with the existing injury in the digestive tract and with the age. that is why knowing the characteristics of these patients is essential to prevent bleeding recurrence with subsequent decrease of morbidity to the effects.