Ulcerative colitis amongst the Saudis: six-year experience from Al-Madinah region.

Ulcerative Colitis is now being recognized amongst the Arabs. After consideration of the clinical, endoscopic and histopathological data, 80 Saudi patients out of 1,182, were diagnosed as ulcerative colitis. There were 47 males and 33 females. The age ranged between two and 90 years (mean 36.5 years). Endoscopically, the disease was limited to the rectum in 22.5%, rectum and sigmoid in 30%, extended up to the splenic flexure in 27.5% and beyond the splenic flexure in 20% of the patients. Our data supports the recent observation that ulcerative colitis is not uncommon in this part of the world. There are differences in the extent of disease and the presence of local complications, between our patients and those in the high incidence areas.