Bowel danger 'on the rise'

Some patients can need surgery if pouches perforate

The number of elderly people suffering from a potentially-dangerous bowel disorder is rising rapidly, say experts.

The Digestive Disorders Foundation has now commissioned research to find out why.

Being a disease of older people, I think, unfortunately has meant it has been sidelined

Dr Robin Spiller

The foundation says nearly one in three people over the age of 60 suffers the disease, and each year, 23,000 people are taken into hospital for it.

Diverticular disease is a bowel condition in which pouches are created in the wall lining of the intestine, as a result of pressure over a period of time.

Many people who have these pouches - diverticula - have no symptoms, but others suffer severe pain, when the pouches become inflamed.

Emergency surgery

If inflammation goes untreated, it can perforate, causing peritonitis, which requires emergency surgery.

The DDF says that in the First World War, only one in ten of the population was affected by the disease and it is still rare in younger people.

But now, 65% of people over the age of 85 are sufferers.

Doctors do not know why some people suffer symptoms and others do not, but a life-long low-fibre diet is believed to cause the disease.

The foundation says more work is needed to find out more.

Dr Robin Spiller of University Hospital, Nottingham, said: "We know that the strength of the muscles in the colon wall deteriorates with age. However, a great deal more research work needs to be done to fully understand the underlying mechanisms involved.

"Being a disease of older people, I think, unfortunately has meant it has been sidelined."