One-year all-cause mortality for 338 patients admitted with epistaxis in a large tertiary ENT centre.

OBJECTIVE

Epistaxis is the most common ENT emergency. This study aimed to assess one-year mortality rates in patients admitted to a large teaching hospital.

METHOD: This study was a retrospective case note analysis of all patients admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with epistaxis over a 12-month period.

RESULTS

The one-year overall mortality for a patient admitted with epistaxis was 9.8 per cent. The patients who died were older (mean age 77.2 vs 68.8 years; p = 0.002), had a higher Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatric score (9.9 vs 6.7; p < 0.001) and had a higher performance status score (2 or higher vs less than 2; p < 0.001). Other risk factors were a low admission haemoglobin level (less than 128 g/dl vs 128 g/dl or higher; p = 0.025), abnormal coagulation (p = 0.004), low albumin (less than 36 g/l vs more than 36 g/l; p < 0.001) and longer length of stay (p = 0.046).

CONCLUSION

There are a number of risk factors associated with increased mortality after admission with epistaxis. This information could help with risk stratification of patients at admission and enable the appropriate patient support to be arranged.