INTENSIVE CARE UNIT PRESCRIPTIONS MUST FIT RISK FACTORS TO PREVENT STRESS ULCER BLEEDING.

Background: The physiological stress of critically ill patients can trigger several complications, including digestive bleeding due to stress ulcers (DBSU). The use of acid secretion suppressants to reduce their incidence has become widely used, but with the current understanding of the risks of these drugs, their use, as prophylaxis in critically ill patients, is limited to the patients with established risk factors.

Aim: To determine the appropriateness of the use of prophylaxis for stress ulcer bleeding in acutely ill patients admitted to intensive care units and to analyze the association of risk factors with adherence to the prophylaxis guideline.