A study of haemorrhoids as seen at the Kenyatta National Hospital with special reference to asymptomatic haemorrhoids.

Abstract

Haemorrhoids is a condition defined as a swelling at the anal margin, a pile. This condition has been known to afflict mankind for a long time having been documented from the time of Hipprocrates. So far it has not been possible to obtain accurate figures of the number of sufferers of this condition in our or other communities but estimates suggest that a high number are affected in both the symptomatic and probably more in the asymptomatic form (15). It has been estimated that fifty per cent of adults over fifty years of age in the United Kingdom are affected by this condition (15) and there is evidence that the incidence increases with age.