Côrte FC, et al. – This prospective study was designed to identify the predictive factors for epistaxis. Male gender, older age, peripheral vascular disease, cardiovascular disease and history of epistaxis were considered as the predictive factors of epistaxis.

Methods

• This study included 283 consecutive adults, admitted to the otolaryngology emergency department of a tertiary referral centre between 25 January and 25 February 2014.
• Comparison of gender, age, co–morbidities, usual medication, history of epistaxis or nasal trauma, presence of septal deviation and blood pressure value on admission, between the elements that were admitted to the emergency due to epistaxis (group 1) and a group composed of patients with other symptoms (group 2).
• With t student and chi–square tests, intergroup variations were examined.
• To establish a predictive model and test its suitability, multivariate logistic regression and a receiver operating characteristic curve were used.

Results

• Investigations suggested that male gender (OR = 2.57, 95% CI 1.1–6.0, p = 0.029), older age (OR = 1.03, 95% CI 1.0–1.1, p = 0.002), existence of peripheral vascular disease (OR = 13.47, 95% CI 1.9–95.3, p = 0.009), cardiovascular disease (OR = 3.91, 95% CI 1.6–9.7, p = 0.003) and previous history of epistaxis (OR = 5.53, 95% CI 2.5–12.1, p < 0.001) were predictors of epistaxis when adjusted for the presence of elevated blood pressure, history of hypertension, cerebrovascular disease and chronic use of anticoagulants or antiplatelet drugs.
• The model revealed a good applicability (area under the curve of 0.852).