Demography, Epidemiology, Clinical Presentations, Diagnoses and Management of Various Anorectal Diseases: An Article Review
Amrut Hirulal Basava* and Y. N. Irkal
Anorectal conditions are among the common diseases causing significant patient discomfort and affecting their quality of life. Their prevalence is higher than that seen in clinical practice, as people seem to avoid seeking medical attention. Various anorectal disorders, their demographic profile, epidemiology, clinical presentations, diagnoses, and management have been emphasized by this review of 6 different articles. The articles are observational studies about patterns and presentations of various anorectal disorders, with study subjects ranging from 109 to 629 patients, published between 2015 and 2019. Five articles have been studied in India and one in Sudan. The data retrieved from each article is comparable to the previous existing studies, although certain variations and differences can be made out among them. The specific areas of focus include: age & sex distribution, predisposing factors, common presenting symptoms and clinical features, patterns of various anorectal disorders and management (surgical/conservative) and outcomes. Anorectal diseases commonly affects the age of 15 to 50 years, with male predominance. Common predisposing factors include mixed/nonvegetarian diet, low fibre diet, constipation, poor anal hygiene, pregnancy and lack of physical activity/exercise. Common anorectal symptoms include anal pain with bleeding per rectum, difficulty in passing stools, mass per anum and pruritus. Distribution of anorectal cases varies, with haemorrhoids being commonest and fissure-in-ano; followed by fistula-in-ano and pruritus ani. Majority of haemorrhoids are in 2nd or 3rd degree. Fissure-in-ano mostly occurs in posterior midline; commonly acute type. Surgery is the most definitive management for most perianal disorders with minimum recurrence.
