Nosebleeds are a potentially life-threatening condition. At the same time, nosebleeds rarely occurs on its own and can be a sign of severe pathology.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Comprehensive assessment of the frequency of lethal outcomes associated with nosebleeds in the otorhinolaryngological departments of Moscow hospitals, taking into account comorbidity and multimorbidity factors.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The reports of the heads of ENT departments of Moscow city clinical hospitals for the period from 2003 to 2019 were studied, including information on 563 189 patients with otorhinolaryngological pathology. The annual dynamics of hospitalization of patients with nosebleeds, data on comorbidity of patients who died due to nosebleeds in the hospital were analyzed, multimorbidity indicators and the Charlson comorbidity index were calculated.

RESULTS

Over a 17-year period, the proportion of patients with nosebleeds among all hospitalized in the ENT department was 3.7% (20 623 patients). 52 patients with nosebleeds (33 men and 19 women) died. The average age of the deceased was 64.7 years. The average duration of hospitalization is 1.04 bed-days. The mortality rate in this cohort of patients was 0.25%. The risk of death in nosebleeds remained approximately at the same level, with an average annual increase of 0.002% (according to the approximation analysis). The multimorbidity coefficient averaged 2.9 diseases/conditions, the comorbidity index was 7.1 points on the Charlson scale. Patients also experienced diseases/conditions that are not taken into account by the Charlson scoring system: cachexia, coagulopathy, pulmonary edema, and others.

CONCLUSION

Thus, it can be stated that the patients who died due to nosebleeds belonged to the older age group, had, as a rule, severe comorbidities and a high comorbidity index.