Identifying the contributing factors in benign anorectal diseases including acute anal fissure and hemorrhoids

Abstract

Background and objective: Hemorrhoidal disease and anal fissure are the two most frequent entities within benign anorectal diseases, both of which have a negative impact on quality of life. The current study focuses on the potential linkage between various demographic factors and lifestyle and the occurrence of hemorrhoids (HD) and anal fissures (AF).

Methods: This study includes 100 patients (50 HD and 50 AF) and 50 healthy controls. The patients diagnosed based on medical history and physical examination. The participants asked to answer the prepared questionnaire containing toilet choice, dietary choice, hydration status, fecal consistency, anxiety risk, and straining during defecation.

Result: A significant difference was observed in toilet choice between the control group with both HD and AF with P-values of 0.048 (OR = 0.37) and 0.017 (OR = 0.31), respectively. Patients with these conditions were more likely to use a sitting toilet and less likely to use a squatting toilet. Dietary habits differed among the study groups. The difference is significant for the HD group that uses mostly meat (P 0.009) and nearly significant for AF (P 0.070). Whereas anxiety, straining, gender, hydration status, age, and body weight did not show significant differences between groups. However, time spent on the toilet is the risk factor for benign anorectal diseases.

Conclusion: These results suggest that toilet habits and diet may contribute to the development of these conditions. If future research supports this idea, we could say that changing bathroom habits should be recommended to all patients with any degree of HD and AF as part of treatment and as a preventive measure. In addition, spending too much time in the toilet should be avoided, as it could worsen these conditions.