The prevalence of proctological symptoms amongst patients who see general practitioners in France

BACKGROUND: Patients do not often discuss anal symptoms, resulting in late diagnosis of proctological disorders and impacting health. Poor epidemiological knowledge is a contributing factor to this, which can be a significant problem in general medicine. Authors evaluated the role of family doctors in proctological disorders by assessing how many of these are spontaneously diagnosed and how many are diagnosed after questioning the patient. METHODS: Thirty-nine general practitioners completed a targeted questionnaire to assess all patients seen prospectively over 2.5 days of consultations. RESULTS: A total of 1079 questionnaires were completed, 621 (58%) for females and 458 (42%) for males with a median age of 54. Twenty-two patients (2%) were seen primarily for anal symptoms. Following questioning, an anal symptom was found in 153 patients (14%). Symptoms reported were: bleeding (32%), pain (31%), pruritus ani (22%), swelling (22%), oozing (14%), and anal discharge (14%). Physicians’ diagnoses were: haemorrhoids, anal fissure, anal discharge, dermatology disease, and functional disorder. In 35% of patients, questioning alone was used to make these diagnoses. Anal incontinence was the only factor associated with referral to a specialist (OR = 5; 95% CI: 1.4–17.8). CONCLUSION: The role of proctology in the general population appears to be significant. In five out of six cases, patients conceal anal symptoms. The high proportion of unexamined patients with anal symptoms is probably multifactorial. Further studies are needed to identify these and put in place the improvement of diagnosis and treatment of anal disorder.