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Trends of diverticular disease of the large bowel in a newly developed country

  • 1990 Isucrs Meeting Papers
  • Published:
Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

Abstract

Five hundred twenty four consecutive barium enemas done over an 18-month period were reviewed in Singapore to ascertain the prevalence and distribution of diverticular disease in the large bowel. In this study, the prevalence rate was 20 percent, which is comparable to European and American studies but higher than similar studies in Asian countries. However, the distribution of the disease showed a predominance of right-sided disease (70 percent). This is a pattern that is markedly different from that seen in Europe and North America, where the disease involves largely the left side of the large bowel. The high prevalence rate in this series is at variance with the widely held belief that diverticulosis occurs less frequently in oriental communities.

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Read at the XIIIth Biennial Congress of the International Society of University Colon and Rectal Surgeons, Graz, Austria, June 24 to 28, 1990.

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Chia, J.G., Wilde, C.C., Ngoi, S.S. et al. Trends of diverticular disease of the large bowel in a newly developed country. Dis Colon Rectum 34, 498–501 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02049937

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02049937

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