The Glasgow-Blatchford bleeding score (GBS) is a screening tool to assess the likelihood that a patient with an acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) will need to have medical intervention such as a blood transfusion or endoscopic intervention. The tool may be able to identify patients who do not need to be admitted to hospital after a UGIB. Advantages of the GBS over the Rockall score, which assesses the risk of mortality in patients with UGIB, include a lack of subjective variables such as the severity of systemic diseases and the lack of a need for oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) to complete the score, a feature unique to the GBS.
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In a controlled study, 16% of patients presenting with UGIB had a GBS score of "0", considered low. Among these patients there were no deaths or interventions needed and the patients were able to be effectively treated in an outpatient setting.
Criteria
The score is calculated using the table below:
In the validation group, scores of 6 or more were associated with a greater than 50% risk of needing an intervention.
Score
Score is equal to "0" if the following are all present: