Etiology of Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Patients Less than 40 Years Old, Yazd, Iran

Most common causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) in young patients are benign perianal lesions, but serious colorectal disease may be underlying etiology in this group. The aim of this study was identification of LGIB etiologies in the patients under 40 years old.
Materials: In this retrospective descriptive study, which has been done during 2012-2013, 333 young patients (less than 40 years old) with lower GIB referred to Endoscopy Ward of Yazd Shahid Sadoughi Hospital assessed by colonoscopy with or without histopathology.
Resultus: In this study, 57% of patients were males. Majority of them were between 30-40 years old. The most common presentation was hematochezia (49%) and the most common cause was internal hemorrhoid (17%). Other causes included: inflammatory bowel disease (15%), polyp (9%), infectious colitis (8%), anal fissure (6%), colon cancer (4%), solitary rectal ulcer (4%), vascular lesion (2%), aphtus lesion (1.1%), diverticulosis (0.6%) ,anal tuberculosis (0.3%) and normal colon (33%).
Considerable number of our cases had inflammatory bowel disease and malignancy. Seven patients had serious disease and simple anal disease simultaneously.
Significant portion of LGIB in the patients less than 40 years old are due to serious colorectal disease. So, careful approach and appropriate timing for colonoscopy is recommended.