Endoscopic profiling of patients with dyspepsia in north-western nigeria. a four-year review

Abstract

Background:Dyspepsia is a symptom complex which is poorly characterized and thought to originate from anatomic or functional disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract. It is a common complaint among patients in both general and gastroenterology practice in Nigeria. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of dyspepsia. Materials and Methods:This is a retrospective study carried out at the Gastroenterology Unit, Department ofInternal Medicine Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto from January 2013 to December, 2016. We aim to profile the endoscopic finding of our patients in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria over a four-year period Results: A total of 1597 had gastroscopy during the study period. There where 860 (53.9%) males while 737 (46.1%) were females, with the male to female ratio of 1.2:1. The mean age of patients was 42 with SD ± 16, and the age range of (15-87) years. The peak age incidence occurred within age range of 40-49 which accounted of 25%. The commonest endoscopic findings were; Gastritis 564(35.3%), GORD 177 (11.1%), Oesophageal varies 145 (9.1%),gastric ulcer 86 (5.4%) and duodenal ulcer 45 (2.8%).Suspected upper gastrointestinal malignancies was 50(3.1%), ie 16(1.0%) oesophageal and 34 (2.1%) gastric. The commonest Clinical indication were PUD 64.2% (1025), followed by Upper GI bleeding 10.5% (167), GORD 10 %(159) andchronic liver disease 8% (128). Conclusion: In this study, gastritis GORD and oesophageal varices were the commonest endoscopic findings while suspected PUD was the commonest clinical indication for endoscopy.