Background: In India, the most common elective surgery is inguinal hernia repair, which consumes a significant amount of healthcare resources. This observational study investigates the demographics, clinical profile, and risk factors of inguinal hernia at a tertiary-level institute in northern India.
Methods: This observational study was conducted at a tertiary care center in northern India, involving 98 patients attending the surgical outpatient department for inguinal hernia repair. After obtaining informed consent from all participants, demographic information, medical history, and clinical examinations were recorded. This study followed a single-center, prospective, non-randomized observational design.
Results and Discussion: In our study, 39 patients (39.8%) were over the age of 50. Ninety-four patients (96%) were male, while four (4%) were female, resulting in a male-to-female ratio of 24:1. The higher prevalence of males can be attributed to their participation in more strenuous exercises, weightlifting, and anatomical differences. Among the identified risk factors, lifting heavy weights accounted for 52% of cases, followed by respiratory disease (37.7%) and altered bowel habits (34.6%). Smoking and diabetes were also found to be associated with an increased risk of hernias. In terms of hernia location, the right side was most common (62.2%), followed by the left side (32.6%), with 5.1% of patients having bilateral hernias. The most common type of hernia observed was the indirect hernia.
Conclusion: Inguinal hernia is a common surgical problem, predominantly seen in elderly males. Right-sided inguinal hernias are more prevalent, with the indirect type being the most common. Heavy and strenuous activities were frequently identified as significant risk factors.
