Colonoscopic findings in Kenyan African patients

Objective: To determine the types and prevalence of colonic diseases in Ken yan African patients referred for colonoscopy with lower gastrointestinal t ract symptoms. Design: A cross sectional survey conducted over a two year period. Setting: Major private hospitals in Nairobi, Patients: Two hundred forty seven consecutive patients of both sexes and al l ages referred for colonoscopy between January 1996 and December 1997, Onl y Kenyans of African origin were included, Patients were referred from all over the country though the majority of cases were from Nairobi and its sur rounding districts. Results: The major indications for colonoscopy were lower abdominal pain (3 5.6%), nonbloody diarrhoea (22.3%), constipation (21.4%) and rectal bleedin g (19.8%). Nearly 53% of patients colonoscoped had abnormal mucosal finding s, with the main abnormalities being: proctocolitis (20.2%), colorectal can cers (12.1%), haemorrhoids (7.3%), colorectal polyps (6.5%) and diverticulo sis (5.3%). The main histological diagnosis among patients whose colonic bi opsy were done included normal colonic mucosa (29%), non-specific colitis ( 28.5%), adenocarcinoma (18.2%), benign colonic polyp (9.7%) and ulcerative colitis (7.3%). There was one case of Crohn's colitis and five cases (3%) o f infective colitis. Conclusion: The study shows that the African colon has a number of patholog ical lesions contrary to previous reported literature.