Epidemiology of the Diverticular Disease - Systematic Review of the Literature
I. Tănase, S. Păun, B. Stoica, I. Negoi, B. Gaspar, M. BeuranGeneral reports, no. 1, 2015
Introduction: Associated with the Western diet and life style,diverticular disease is affecting more and more developingcountries worldwide. Recent studies show an increase inincidence of the disease at young age, that raises the risk ofcomplications, along with major consequences for the patientbut also for the healthcare system.Method: Systematic review of the literature with US NationalLibrary of Medicine and National Institutes of HealthInternational PubMed Medline, using abstracts and articlesavailable in PubMed Medline, Cochrane databases searching for ("Diverticulosis, Colonic epidemiology" [MeSH] OR"Diverticulosis, Colonic etiology" [MeSH] OR "Diverticulosis,Colonic genetics" [MeSH] OR "Diverticulosis, Colonic history" [MeSH]).Results: Even from the rise of diverticular disease as a publichealthcare problem, at the end of the previous century, itwas associated with a diet rich in refined sugars, lackingvegetable fibres. The higher incidence in countries likeU.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom and the northern statescompared with its rare occurrence in the sub-SaharanAfrican continent, strengthen the anterior assumptions. Inregions like Asia, the disease pattern is characterized by arelatively low incidence of colonic diverticular disease, withdistribution of diverticula mainly on the right colon. Thedifferent incidence by sex and age show the possible existenceof hormonal protective factors. Studies from countrieswith a rich ethnic diversity, bring into question theprobable genetic predisposition to diverticular disease, factbacked-up by the few studies on twins and 1st degreerelatives available in the literature.Discussion: The rising incidence of colonic diverticular diseasein Romania makes our country adhere the epidemiologicmodel existing in countries with a close socio-economic status.Although with a lower incidence than countries that haveadopted a Western diet, Romania is likely to encounter apublic health problem, if certain measures to identify andminimise the population exposure to risk factors are not taken.
