Findings and Analysis
Population Characteristics
There were 842 episodes of bleeding in
768 patients. Although there were more
Negroes than Caucasians in the study
group, compared with the overall hospital
admissions during the period of study (Fig.
1), bleeding was relatively more common
in Caucasians and males. The average age
of the population was 53.4 years. Fifty-nine
per cent of the patients were found to have
another significant illness at the time of
admission (Table 1). This emphasizes that
bleeding usually occurs in older, sicker