Background: The prevalence of colonic diverticulosis has increased in recent years in Saudi Arabia (SA). Thereby, this study aimed at exploring the clinical pattern, characteristics, and association of colonic diverticulosis in SA.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional observational study conducted on 2,134 colonoscopic procedures carried out at King Fahad Medical City, a tertiary care center in Riyadh, SA, from October 2014 to July 2018. The data on 217 patients with colonic diverticulosis were randomly selected for analysis.
Results: Of the 217 patients with diverticulosis, 52% were male. The mean age was 63.04 ± 12.8 years. Entire colon diverticulosis was found in 15.4% of the study population, while 32.7% had sigmoid diverticulosis. Around 11% of the participants presented with abdominal pain, constipation in 6%, and anemia in 11.1%, positive occult blood in 2.8%, and lower Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in 5.5%. Regarding diagnostic procedures, computerized
tomography was used for 4.6% of the participants, while barium enema was used for 0.5% of the participants. Regarding comorbidity, hypertensive patients constituted 55.8% of the participants, 46.1% were diabetic, 18.9% had ischemic heart diseases (IHDs), while end-stage renal disease was reported in 2.8% of the study cohort.
Conclusion: Diverticulosis is common in both genders and in the younger age group as well. The association of diverticular disease with diabetes, IHD, and hypertension was similar to other regions of the globe.
Key words: Colonic diverticulosis, colonoscopy, gastrointestinal disorders, SA
|
