Ischemic colitis has been considered to have relatively high prevalence in the elderly population with underlying vascular disorder such as
hypertension. However, this disease has been recently reported increased in the young population so that it is not necessarily limited to the aged. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the characteristics of age-related clinical features in
ischemic colitis. The subjects consisted of 30 patients with
ischemic colitis admitted to our hospital during the last 5 years. They were divided into the aged group more than 65 years old and the young group aged 65 or less. As a result, there were no significant differences in symptoms, resulted serological examination, endoscopic findings, and treatment period. Lesion sites were more extended in the aged group. Concerning underlying disease and etiologic factors, the
vascular factor was important in the aged group, while the peristaltic factor, especially
constipation was important in the young group. Ten of the 30 patients had habitual
constipation, and the aged group had a high percentage of paralytic
constipation, while the young group had a high rate of
spastic constipation. Many patients with paralytic
constipation had a history of underlying diseases and
laparotomy, while the patients with
spastic constipation did not have such a history. Therefore, it is presumed that the
spastic type of
constipation is an etiologic factor in
ischemic colitis.