Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the Elderly Patient

As with management of gastrointestinal bleeding in younger adults, successful therapy of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in the elderly depends on source identification and source control through directed intervention. Frailty, defined as age-associated declines in physiologic reserve and function across multiorgan systems, may influence the impact of the bleed and limit the options for treatment [1]. Not only dose, but also duration of exposure to self-administered toxins may have a cumulative effect, as with the long-term effect of cigarette smoking on duodenal ulcers and the effect of chronic alcohol use on the development of bleeding esophageal varices.