Table 3.

Meta-analysis A: rates of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients treated with ranitidine or placebo (five randomised studies)

Reference	Bleeding rate		Odds ratio (95% CI)	Definition of bleeding
	Ranitidine	Placebo
Ruiz-Santana et al, 199111	2/19	1/30	2.81 (0.41 to 28.1)	Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding
Apte et al, 199212	5/16	6/18	0.92 (0.23 to 3.65)	Gross gastric bleeding
Metz et al, 199313	0/86	1/81	0.31 (0.00 to 2.83)	Bright red blood per nasogastric tube (without including cases with persistent blood occult positive and “coffee grounds” nasogastric tube aspirates)
Burgess et al, 199514	0/16	5/18	0.10 (0.00 to 0.86)	5% decrease from baseline in haematocrit occurring at least 8 h after study drug initiation and haematemesis, haematochezia, bright red blood per nasogastric tube, or “coffee grounds” nasogastric tube aspirates
Hanisch et al, 199815	3/57	2/57	1.43 (0.29 to 8.08)	Bright red blood per gastric tube or melaena combined with haemodynamic changes (systolic blood pressure <100 mm Hg, tachycardia >100 beats/min) and requirement of blood transfusion (fall in haemoglobin concentration >20 g/l within 24 hours) and endoscopic identification of bleeding site and activity
Total	10/194 (5%)	15/204 (7%)	—