Diet, ageing and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of diverticular disease

Figure 1 Prevalence of DD in intestines obtained at necropsy by age, gender and region. A: Increasing prevalence of DD with age in western populations. In contrast DD peaked amongst individuals in their late fifties and early sixties in Singapore. The Singapore study however is based on diverse ethnic populations which may be confounding these observations; B: Percentages of intestine shown to have DD present at necropsy by gender. Data obtained on individuals from the Trømso region of northern Norway between 1974 and 1976, Northern Irish subjects in 1968, Cretan subjects 1997-1999, and Singapore prior to 1986. Note: The data presented for the Cretan-, Belfast- and Singapore-based studies are adjusted for age groups used by the Norwegian study using slopes obtained from the published data. Figures adapted from reference[1–4].