Sarah Jalloul¹, Marita Saliba², Nesrine Abi Saad³ and Majd Roustom³*

¹Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of Balamand, El-Koura, Lebanon
²Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of Balamand, El-Koura, Lebanon
³Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Lebanon

*Corresponding Author: Majd Rustom, Department of Gastroenterology, Lebanese American University Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon.

Received: March 11, 2026; Published: June 19, 2026

Abstract

Background and objectives: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. It is the third leading cause of cancer-related death. There are multiple risk factors that contribute to its development. CRC or colorectal polyps may be detected by several methods, but colonoscopy remains the mainstay method. The clinical presentation may vary between patients. Screening is recommended for all patients above 45 years of age. Our objective was to identify the prevalence of colorectal polyps in the Lebanese population and the major contributing risk factors for its development.

Methods: This is a monocentric prospective cohort study that included 470 patients that underwent colonoscopy for multiple reasons. Information concerning multiple variables (age, gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, BMI, preparation and indication for colonoscopy, pathology of polyps found) was collected using a standardized questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using the software SPSS.

Results: The studied population’s age varied between 15 and 93. The data analysis showed that a positive colonoscopy result defined by the presence of a polyp was significantly associated with smoking (75,52%), obesity or overweight (64,06%), male sex (65,63%), a family history of colon cancer (23,43%) and a mean age of 77,34 ± 18 years. The main indication for colonoscopy was anemia (37.75%), and the main detected pathology was adenoma with dysplasia (20.21%).

Conclusion: BMI, smoking, diabetes, age 50 and above were risk factors statistically related to colonic polyps. The screening was not considered a main issue for presentation so awareness should be raised in our population targeting early detection of colon cancer when it is highly curable.

Keywords: Colonic Polyps; Colonoscopy; Colorectal Cancer; Colorectal Polyps; Risk Factors

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Citation

Citation: Majd Roustom., et al. “Colonic Polyps: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Classification in a Sample of Lebanese Population Who Underwent Colonos- copy". Acta Scientific Gastrointestinal Disorders 9.3 (2026): 19-31.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Majd Roustom., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.