Demographic and clinical features distinguish subgroups of diverticular disease patients: Results from an Italian nationwide registry

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

BACKGROUND: Clinical features and lifestyle factors associated with diverticulosis compared to diverticular disease (DD), either symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD) or in patients who have had previous diverticulitis (PD), are unclear. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to compare cross-sectionally demographic and clinical features and quality of life (QoL) in diverticulosis, SUDD and PD patients. METHODS: The REMAD Registry is a prospective, observational, multicentre, cohort study. Patients were categorised according to: diverticulosis; SUDD (recurrent abdominal symptoms attributed to diverticula in absence of overt inflammation) and PD (≥1 previous diverticulitis). RESULTS: < 0.0001 and 0.0038), in comparison to SUDD and PD. CONCLUSION: Family history for diverticula and history of bleeding distinguish diverticulosis from DD. These clinical features should be kept in mind in the management of DD.