The Effect of Carbazochrome Sodium Sulfonate in Patients with Colonic Diverticular Bleeding: Propensity Score Matching Analyses Using a Nationwide Inpatient Database

OBJECTIVE: Carbazochrome sodium sulfonate (CSS) has been routinely used to treat bleeding; however, no study has examined the effect of CSS for gastrointestinal bleeding. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of CSS for colonic diverticular bleeding. METHODS: We performed a nationwide observational study using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database. We identified patients who were admitted for diverticular bleeding from July 2010 to March 2018. Patients who received CSS on the day of admission were defined as the CSS group, and those not receiving CSS were defined as the control group. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were length of stay, total costs, and blood transfusion within 7 days of admission. Propensity score matching analyses were performed to compare outcomes between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 59,965 patients met our eligibility criteria. Of these, 14,437 (24%) patients received CSS on the day of admission. One-to-one propensity score matching created 14,379 matched pairs. There was no significant difference in the in-hospital mortality between the CSS and control groups (0.6% vs. 0.5%, respectively; odds ratio: 0.96; 95% confidence interval: 0.72-1.29). The length of stay was longer in the CSS group than in the control group (11.4 vs. 11.0 days, respectively; difference: 0.44; 95% confidence interval: 0.14-0.73). There were no significant differences in the total costs or the proportion of patients receiving blood transfusion between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: CSS may not reduce in-hospital mortality, length of stay, total costs, or the need for blood transfusion in patients with colonic diverticular bleeding.