Elderly patients with gastrointestinal hemorrhage do not tolerate delay in definitive therapy, and they present a formidable mortality. Undue delay could be avoided if criteria were available to indicate early use of specific diagnostic and therapeutic measures. In an attempt to establish such criteria, we have studied all King County Hospital admissions with gastrointestinal bleeding, over a two year period. We have analyzed these admissions in an attempt to find factors, apparent early in the hospital course, which might influence subsequent management positively. Method and Materials The admission diagnoses of 24,264 patients entering King County Hospital, Seattle, during the years 1955 and 1957, were studied. In all instances in which gastrointestinal bleeding was a possibility, the charts were reviewed. Data were coded on IBM cards, and tabulations were made from these and subjected to statistical analysis. In this manner, 638 admissions with manifestations of gastrointestinal bleeding on entry were found.