TUESDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who have experienced peptic ulcer bleeding on low-dose aspirin and who undergo endoscopic hemostatic therapy for their ulcers have increased risk for recurrent bleeding if they resume taking aspirin, but have lowered risk of death, according to a study published online Nov. 30 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Joseph J.Y. Sung, M.D., of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues randomized 156 patients who had taken low-dose aspirin and experienced peptic ulcer bleeding and who underwent endoscopic therapy to receive either low-dose aspirin (80 mg/d) or placebo for eight weeks after endoscopic therapy. The patients also all were given a 72-hour infusion of pantoprazole followed by oral pantoprazole. All patients were followed for the incidence of recurrent ulcer bleeding within 30 days and for all-cause and specific-cause mortality within eight weeks.

The researchers found that recurrent ulcer bleeding occurred within 30 days in 10.3 percent of the patients in the group receiving low-dose aspirin, and in 5.4 percent of the group receiving placebo. However, the patients who were given aspirin had lower all-cause mortality than patients given placebo (1.3 and 12.9 percent, respectively), as well as lower mortality rates for a combination of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or gastrointestinal complications (1.3 and 10.3 percent, respectively).

"Among low-dose aspirin recipients who had peptic ulcer bleeding, continuous aspirin therapy may increase the risk for recurrent bleeding but potentially reduces mortality rates. Larger trials are needed to confirm these findings," the authors write.

Authors of the study reported financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.

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