Clinical Presentation of Ulcerative
Colitis in Pakistani Adults
Mustafa Qureshi, Zaigham Abbas
Citation Information :
Qureshi M, Abbas Z. Clinical Presentation of Ulcerative Colitis in Pakistani Adults. Euroasian J Hepatogastroenterol 2015; 5 (2):127-130.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical presentation and severity of ulcerative
colitis (UC) in Pakistani adult patients.
Materials and methods: An observational study. Data were obtained by reviewing the medical records
of patients who visited a gastroenterology clinic between 2008 and 2012.
Results: There were 54 patients diagnosed as UC. The male to female ratio was 1:1. Mean age at
diagnosis of UC was 38.7 ± 11.8 years (median 36.5, range 18–64). The predominant presenting
symptoms were mucus diarrhea in 49 (90.7%), gross blood in stools in 42 (77.8%), abdominal pain or
cramps in 40 (74.1%) and weight loss in 15 (27.7%). Left-sided colitis was present in 23 (42.6%), pancolitis
in 15 (27.8%), extensive colitis in 11 (20.4%), and proctitis in five (9.2%). The severity of UC as judged
by the Mayo scoring system showed that 68.5% were suffering from moderate to severe disease while
31.5% had mild disease. The extra-intestinal manifestation were found only in seven patients; arthritis in
five patients and anterior uveitis in two patients. The arthritis was unilateral and the sites were knee
joint in three patients and sacroiliac joint in two patients.
Conclusion: Ulcerative colitis presents in our adult patients may present at any age with no gender
preponderance. The disease severity is moderate to severe in the majority of patients and more than
half of them have left-sided colitis or pancolitis at the time of presentation. Extraintestinal manifestations
were not common.
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