Acute bleeding is common and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological studies evaluating trends in bleeding-related hospitalisations and mortality are important as they have potential to guide resource allocation and service provision, however, despite this literature evaluating the national burden and annual trends are lacking. Our objective was to report the national burden and incidence of bleeding-related hospitalisation and mortality.This was a population-based review of all people in England between 2014 and 2019 either admitted to an acute care ward of a National Health Service (NHS) English hospital, or who died. Admissions and deaths were required to have a primary diagnosis of significant bleeding.There was a total of 3,238,427 hospitalisations with a mean of 539,738 ± 6033 per year and 81,264 deaths with a mean of 13,544 ± 331 per year attributable to bleeding. The mean annual incident rate for bleeding-related hospitalisations was 975 per 100,000 patient years and for mortality was 24.45. Over the study period there was a significant 8.2% reduction in bleeding related deaths (χ2 test for trend 91.4, p
Venous thromboembolism is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with active cancer who require anticoagulation treatment. Choice of anticoagulant is based on careful balancing of the risks and benefits of available classes of treatment: vitamin K antagonists, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Results from randomized controlled trials have shown the consistent efficacy of DOACs versus LMWH in the treatment of cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, increased major gastrointestinal bleeding was observed for edoxaban and rivaroxaban, but not apixaban, compared with LMWH dalteparin. Most guidelines recommend DOACs for the treatment of cancer-associated VTE in patients without gastrointestinal or genitourinary cancer, and with considerations for renal impairment and drug-drug interactions. These updates represent a major paradigm shift for clinicians in the Middle East and North Africa. The decision to prescribe a DOAC for a patient with cancer is not always straightforward, particularly in challenging subgroups of patients with an increased risk of bleeding. In patients with gastrointestinal malignancies who are at high risk of major gastrointestinal bleeds, apixaban may be the preferred DOAC; however, caution should be exercised if patients have upper or unresected lower gastrointestinal tumors. In patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and upper or unresected lower gastrointestinal tumors, LMWH may be preferred. Vitamin K antagonists should be used only when DOACs and LMWH are unavailable or unsuitable. In this review, we discuss the overall evidence for DOACs in the treatment of cancer-associated VTE and provide treatment suggestions for challenging subgroups of patients with cancer associated VTE.