Inpatient burden of esophageal varices in the United States: analysis of trends in demographics, cost of care, and outcomes

Esophageal variceal bleeding remains a common reason for hospitalization in the United States. The main objective of this study was to analyze demographic variations and outcomes in hospitalizations related to esophageal varices (EV) in the US. We performed a retrospective observational cohort study using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for all hospitalizations with discharge diagnoses of EV, with and without hemorrhage from 2001 to 2011. In 2001, there were 19,167 hospitalizations with discharge diagnoses of EV with and without bleeding compared to 45,578 in 2011 (P