Paraumbilical hernia: an accompaniment of obesity

Abstract

IntroductionInguinal hernia, paraumbilical hernia and incisional hernias are common abdominal wall hernias encountered in surgical practice. Smoking, straining during micturition and/or defaecation, heavy manual work, chronic obstructive airway disease and obesity are some of the recognized predisposing factors for abdominal wall hernias in adults. ObjectiveThe study aims to estimate the prevalence of the common predisposing factors of abdominal hernias among adults of both genders. MethodologyThis is an institutional-based cross-sectional analytic study carried out in adult patients with abdominal hernias registered at a surgical clinic, Teaching Hospital, Jaffna, from January 2018 to December 2020. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect the data from the patients. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 2 1. 5% was used as a significance level. Results Amongthe 218 patients, 119 patients [54.6%] had an inguinal hernia, 80 [36.7%] had a paraumbilical hernia and 19 [8.7%] had an incisional hernia. 36 [16.5%] patients did not have any of the predisposing factors whereas 80 [36.7%] patients had a single predisposing factor and the remaining 102[46.8%] patients had multiple predisposing factors. 58 [26.6%] had the habit of smoking. 43 patients [19.8%] gave a history of straining during defecation and/or micturition and 49 patients [22.5%] suffered from chronic obstructive airway diseases. 98 patients [45.0%] were heavy manual workers and 98 [45.0%] were obese.