'Disease Of Older Adults': Diverticulitis Cases Surge Among Americans

A recent study has found a worrying rise in cases of diverticulitis, a painful condition affecting the large intestine, among Americans under the age of 50. Once considered a condition mainly affecting older adults, diverticulitis is now being diagnosed with increasing severity in younger patients.

The research, conducted by UCLA and Vanderbilt University, analysed data from over 5.2 million adult hospitalisations between 2005 and 2020. It revealed a 52% increase in complicated cases of the disease, particularly among those below 50 years of age. 

Severe cases, which involve issues such as abscesses, intestinal perforations, or infections, rose from 18.5% to 28.2% in the younger age group over the 15-year period.

The study also found that younger patients with diverticulitis were more likely to undergo invasive treatments such as colectomy (surgical removal of part or all of the colon) or percutaneous drainage (removal of fluid using a needle), compared to older patients.

"We're seeing a significant shift in who is being hospitalized for severe diverticulitis," said Kim, a fourth-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "This condition was traditionally thought of as a disease of older adults, but our data shows that younger Americans are increasingly affected, and often with more complicated presentations."

According to a news release, diverticulitis causes small pouches, or sacs, to form on weak areas on wall of the colon, which can lead to abdominal pain, bloating, bleeding, constipation and diarrhea among other symptoms. The disease has been considered more common among older adults and rare in people under 40. 

However, the UCLA analysis of the National Inpatient Sample, the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient healthcare database in the United States, showed a changing trend.

Of the 5.2 million patients hospitalized for diverticulitis between 2005-2020, about 16% or 837,195 were classified as "early-onset" cases occurring in patients younger than 50 years old. Of this early-onset cases, the number of people admitted to the hospital for complicated diverticulitis increased from 18.5% to 28.2%. 

Researchers say this trend is concerning and points to the need for further investigation into dietary, genetic, or environmental factors that may be contributing to early-onset cases of the disease.