MedWire News: People who experience gastrointestinal bleeding after suffering a stroke are more likely to die or become severely disabled than other stroke patients, Canadian study results suggest.

Previous studies have suggested that gastrointestinal bleeding is common among stroke patients, "but its association with clinical outcome is less certain", explain the researchers.

To investigate further, the team studied data on 6853 stroke patients who were treated at 11 hospitals in Ontario between 2003 and 2006. All the patients had suffered ischemic strokes - the most common type of stroke that is caused by a blockage in blood vessels that feed the brain.

Analysis of medical records revealed that 100 patients suffered from bleeding in the stomach or intestines while they were in the hospital. More than half of these patients had suffered mild-to-moderate strokes.

In total, 829 patients died during their hospital stay and 1374 died within 6 months of their stroke.

The researchers found that patients who had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding were over three times more likely to die during their hospital stay or be severely disabled at the time they left the hospital than those without the complication.

Indeed, 81% of patients with gastrointestinal bleeding died in the hospital or were severely disabled, compared with 41% of the other patients.

Furthermore, patients with gastrointestinal bleeding were 1.5 times more likely to die within 6 months of suffering a stroke than those without gastrointestinal bleeding.

The findings remained true after accounting for other risk factors, such as pneumonia and heart attack, notes the team.

Factors significantly associated with the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding included a previous history of peptic ulcers, cancer and stroke severity.

"These findings suggest a strong association between gastrointestinal haemorrhage and poor clinical outcomes after ischaemic stroke," the team comments in the journal Neurology.

Lead researcher Dr Martin O'Donnell, from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, added: "This is an important finding since there are effective medications to reduce gastric acid that can lead to upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

"More research will be needed to determine whether this is a viable strategy to improve outcomes after stroke in high-risk patients."