MAGNITUDE AND CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INFLAMATORY BOWEL DISEASES AMONG PATIENTS ON FOLLOW UP AT SAINT PAUL’S HOSPITAL GI CLINIC FROM JANUARY 1, 2017 TO JANUARY 1, 2019

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: The inflammatory bowel diseases; Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic idiopathic disorders causing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. In North America and Europe, over 1·5 million and 2 million people suffer from the disease, respectively. Although the prevalence of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease increased in the western world in the latter half of the 20th century, little was known about the changing prevalence in other parts of the world. Moreover, reports on the clinical characteristics and presentations of inflammatory bowel disease patients from different ethnicities are also inconsistent. There was no data on prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease and data on the clinical characteristics of inflammatory bowel diseases in Ethiopia is scares. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess magnitude and clinical characteristics of inflammatory bowel diseases among adult patients on follow up at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, gastroenterology clinic from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2019. 5 Method: Institution based retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2019. Because of too small calculated sample size, all 61 inflammatory bowel disease patients on follow up at adult gastroenterology clinic of St. Paul’s hospital millennium Medical College during the study period and who full fills the inclusion criteria were taken. Data was collected through structured questionnaire from chart record of the patients and was analyzed by SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 61 cases of inflammatory bowel diseases with Crohn’s disease 40(65.6%), ulcerative colitis 18(29.5%) and indeterminate inflammatory bowel diseases 3(4.9%) were identified. The prevalence rate of inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis were 1.7%, 1.1% and 0.5% respectively. The sex ratio for inflammatory bowel diseases was (male: female) 1:1.26 with ulcerative colitis (1.57:1) Crohn’s disease (1:1.67) and indeterminate inflammatory bowel diseases (1:2). The frequent symptom at initial presentation of inflammatory bowel diseases patients was abdominal pain and diarrhea. Crohn’s disease patients present more commonly with abdominal pain, while those with ulcerative colitis had a higher frequency of rectal bleeding. In Crohn’s disease patients, terminal ileum disease (47%) was most frequent with two patients having upper GI involvement. In those with ulcerative colitis, 61% had colonic disease 33% with disease limited to the rectum. Conclusion : Our study indicated that the prevalence rate of I inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis were 1.7%, 1.1% and 0.5% respectively and clinical features of inflammatory bowel diseases in our hospital were different from those in developed countries, in terms inflammatory bowel 6 diseases sub-types, sex distribution, disease location and, and the prevalence of extra-intestinal manifestations. Recommendations: Suggest having multi-center study for inflammatory bowel diseases, which may provide useful epidemiological and clinical data.