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Alcoholics
underestimate the risk of bleeding
Gastrointestinal bleeding can be fatal - something which is
not known to many alcoholics. This was the
conclusion reached by the Leipzig
gastroenterologist Niels Teich and his
colleagues, on the basis of a survey in the
current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008;
105[5]: 73-7).
More than 400 patients from the major German cities of
Leipzig and Munich were included in the
study. Average alcohol consumption was 660 g
ethanol per week.
The study shows that alcoholics often do not know enough
about the possible symptoms of bleeding in
the upper gastrointestinal tract. After
vomiting blood, 71% of those asked would
contact an emergency physician.
The corresponding figure for a "black fluid" is only 51%.
Only 32% would call emergency medical aid if
they were to pass black stools, and only 25%
would seek medical help for all three
symptoms.
Alcoholics who rarely see a doctor are particularly ignorant
about how urgent treatment is. Women and
patients who had seen a doctor more than 12
times in the course of the preceding year
were best informed.
Further non-significant differences were found in respect of
patient age.