Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Developing World: Prevalence, Clinical Presentations, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges

Abstract

INTRDUCTION: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of gut, unfortunately true prevalence and initial symptoms presentations of the patients are still unknown in many developing areas of World.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, clinical presentations and study the challenges faced during diagnosis and management of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease in developing world.

METHODOLOGY: The prevalence of the IBD is calculated. Multiple symptoms and questionnaire were recorded at the time of enrollment. Frequencies of presenting symptoms are measured to determine frequency of diagnosis and follow-up treatment.

RESULTS: The most common presentation of the patients was chronic diarrhea (37.7%) following altered bowel habits (21.8%) and bleeding (18.2%).  51.4% individuals belongs to the middleclass families while 40% in lower class. The ulcerative colitis diagnosed in our study was 35.9% while patients with Crohn's disease were 36.8%.  15.5% of IBD population was smokers. Mayo score resulted in 50.9% individuals with grade 3 and 44.1% showed grade 2 scale. While true love wits score depicts severe results in 53.6% individuals.

CONCLUSION: Rural regions appear to have a higher prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases than metropolitan areas, as do lower and medium socioeconomic strata.