The etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding depending on patient’s age and gender

Background: Whether the etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding depends on the age and gender of the patient is not yet fully understood. Methods: A total of 1953 patients who underwent video capsule endoscopy (VCE) to evaluate potential small-bowel bleeding and were registered in the Capsule Endoscopy Nationwide Database Registry from 2003 to 2014 were eligible for this study. VCE findings and the etiology of small-bowel bleeding were analyzed by age and gender. Results: The diagnostic yield of VCE was 48.4% (95% CI: 46.2%–50.6%) and the diagnosis rate of etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding was 61.4% (95% CI: 59.2%–63.6%). The etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding depends on the age and gender of the patient. Crohn's disease and small-bowel diverticular diseases were more prevalent etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding in the young adults group (< 40 years) whereas angiodysplasia was revealed to be a most common etiology in elderly group (≥ 60 years), reaching statistical significance (p<0.00152) by Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: The etiology of potential small-bowel bleeding depends on the age of the patient. Thus, an individualized lesion-specific diagnostic approach based on age might be needed for patients with potential small-bowel bleeding.