Prevalence and Distribution of Colonic Diverticular Disease from Ordu in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: Diverticulosis of the colon is the most frequent anatomical alteration diagnosed at colonoscopy. Most cases of diverticulosis in Western countries involve left side of the colon, while diverticulosis is predominantly present on the right side of the colon in Asian countries. With the aim of this study is to contribute to epidemiologic studies on colonic diverticula in Turkey located in Europe and Asian continent. We analyzed the data of patients undergoing colonoscopy with regard to age, gender, anatomic localization of diverticula retrospectively in the Ordu State Hospital in the Black Sea region.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a consecutive series of patients with regard to age, gender, location of diverticula and other colonoscopic lesions from an electronic endoscopic database who had undergone colonoscopy at the endoscopy unit of the Ordu State Hospital between 2016 and 2018. If diverticula were observed that distribution type was defined as cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, entire colon and sigmoid colon. In addition, we recorded that the additional diagnoses established in colonoscopic evaluations.Results: We screened 2626 female (51.1%) and 2511 male (48.9%); totally 5137 patients from an electronic endoscopic database who had undergone colonoscopy. 227 (47.4%) female, 252 (52.6%) male, a total of 479 patients who had diverticulosis were included in this study. The mean age was determined female and male 65.44±12.01 (min 31-max 91), 64.91±10.97 (min 27-max 89) respectively and no statistically significant difference between two groups (p>0.05). A total of 479 patients who had diverticulosis were divided into two groups: age ≤ 50 (10.4%) and 50> 429 (89.6%). No significant difference was found with regard to diverticulosis localization between two groups (p>0.05). The other colonoscopic diagnoses are as follows; hemorrhoid (40.7%), polyp (40.2%), inflammatory bowel disease (4.7%) colorectal cancer (0.9%), angiodysplasia (2.3%), ulcer (0.9%), anal fissure (1.9%), parasitosis (1.9%), terminal ileitis (0.5%), nonspecific colitis (3.7%), bowel surgery (1.9%) and submucosal lesion (0.5%). Conclusion: Diverticular disease is a worldwide condition that affect elderly people with an increasing incidence in younger patients as well as in developing countries that have started adopting Western diets. So that in the future diverticular disease will induce a significant economic burden in terms of healthcare cost in Turkey. Despite its prevalence, its pathophysiology still remains poorly understood. There is a significant need for more studies to improve our understanding about diverticular disease.