Risk Factors of Intestinal Perforation Associated with Peritonitis

Perforation is known as an abnormal opening in an empty organ. It is copied from the Latin word perforatus, meaning “to bore through.” In western world the estimated frequency of intestinal perforation ranges from 0.6% to 4.9%. Objective: To find out the risk factors of intestinal perforation associated with peritonitis. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study and data was collected from February 2022 to July 2022. Data was collected from, DHQ Teaching Hospital Gujranwala and Social Security Hospital Multan chungi Lahore. Calculated sample size was 50 based on prevalence (0.68%) of intestinal perforation through an online sample size calculator (CI 95% and margin of error=0.09%). Patients of both genders with age limit of 10-60 years and patients presenting with perforation peritonitis were included in this study. Patients with Post-operative peritonitis and Immuno-compromised patients were excluded from study. Patient demographic information was collected. For demographic variables and risk factors of intestinal perforation descriptive analysis was used. Ethical approval has been obtained from concerned department and statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 24. Results: Out of 50 patients 38% were female and 62% were male. Major risk factors for intestinal perforation were Appendicitis (32%), Trauma (26%), Abdominal distension (24%) and Intestinal obstruction (20%). Conclusion: This study concludes that intestinal perforation is commonly seen between the age group of 21-30 years. Common risk factors of intestinal perforation are fever, appendicitis, trauma, abdominal distension, followed by intestinal obstruction, ascites and infection. The most commonly found perforation is duodenal perforation.