Demographics, Clinical Profile, and Risk Factors of Inguinal Hernia in Elderly Males: A Hospital Based study

Abstract

Abstract                                                                                                                                      

Background: In India, the most common elective surgery is inguinal hernia repair, which consumes a significant amount of healthcare resources. The demographics, clinical profile, and risk factors of inguinal hernia were investigated in this observational study at a tertiary-level institute in northern India. Method: This observational study was carried out at a tertiary care centre in northern India, with 98 patients attending the surgical outpatient department for inguinal hernia repair. After all, participants provided informed consent, demographic information, history, and clinical examinations were recorded. This was a single-centre, prospective, non-randomized observational study. Results and discussion: In our study, 39 patients (39.8 %) were over the age of 50. Ninety-four patients (96%) were males, while four (4%) were females. The male-to-female ratio was 24:1. Males outnumbered females due to their participation in more strenuous exercises and weightlifting, as well as anatomical differences. Lifting heavy weights was found as the most common risk factor in this study, accounting for 52%, followed by respiratory disease (37.7%) and altered bowel habits (34.6%). Smoking and diabetes were also found to be risk factors for hernias. In this study, the most common side of hernia was on the right side (62.2%), the left (32.6%), and bilateral in 5.1% of patients. The most common type was an indirect hernia. Conclusion: Inguinal hernia is a surgical problem that is commonly seen in the elderly male. Inguinal hernias on the right side are common, with the indirect type being more common. Heavy and strenuous activities were frequently identified as risk factors.