Incidence of inguinal hernia and its type in a study in a semiurban area in Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Background: Repair of inguinal hernia is one of the most common operations in general surgery. A reducible hernia is usually a longstanding condition, and diagnosis is made clinically, on the basis of typical symptoms and signs. This study was conducted to assess the incidence of inguinal hernias in our geographical area.Methods: 187 patients who had come to the hospital with complaints of swelling in their groin and confirmed to be inguinal hernia were included into the study. Ultrasound for the detection of aneurysm of the abdominal aorta was done for all the patients before the inguinal hernia repair.Results: 129 (69%) patients were males and only 58 out of the 187 patients were females. Most of the patients had primary hernia while 45 (24.1%) of them had recurrent hernia. Most of the patients were between 31-60 years of age followed by 61-75 years. Around 94% of the patients had unilateral hernia and 5.9% had bilateral hernias. Of the unilateral ones, right side was predominant over the left side. 80% of the patients had indirect hernia and direct hernia was seen only among 20% of them.Conclusions: More such studies need to be conducted at various geographical regions to get more number of observations and data to gather the prevalence.