title: The clinical factors for predicting severe diverticulitis in Korea: a comparison with Western countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is unclear whether the risk factors associated with complicated diverticulitis in Asian and Western countries are the same. We evaluated the risk factors associated with severe diverticulitis (SD) in Korea and compared the clinical characteristics of diverticulitis according to location.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of 190 patients hospitalized with acute diverticulitis from January 2005 to June 2010 was conducted. SD was defined as one of the following: perforation, abscess, obstruction, sepsis, or peritonitis that required an urgent operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four patients (12.6%) were diagnosed with SD. SD was significantly associated with older age, a fever over 38℃, changes in bowel habits and a high visceral adipose tissue (VAT)/total adipose tissue (TAT) ratio. Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors for developing SD were an age of 40 years or more (odds ratio [OR], 3.2; p=0.032), male gender (OR, 4.0; p=0.021) and left-sided diverticulitis (OR, 6.2; p=0.017). Right-sided diverticulitis (n=175, 92.1%) was significantly associated with younger ages, fewer changes in bowel habits, fewer comorbidities and non-SD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that the risk factors for developing SD in Korea, where right-sided diverticulitis is predominant, are the male gender, an age of more than 40 years old, and left-sided diverticulitis. Given that there are different risk factors for developing SD in Western countries, different strategies for the treatment of diverticulitis in the Korean population seem to be needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tae Hoon
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Ji Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Tae Joo
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Dong Dae
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Won Chang
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Won Choong
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Myeong Ja
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jeong