Epidemiological and clinical features of hydatid cyst disease in Babylon province, during the years 2010-2015

Background:-Hydatid disease is a chronic parasitic disease highly endemic in Iraq, it has serious health and economic consequences. Objectives:-To identify epidemiologic features in (person, place, and time) module of hydatid cyst disease and describing its clinical features among patients admitted to public hospitals for surgery. Methodology:-This cross sectional study was conducted by reviewing the clinical records of 208 hydatid cyst patients who were admitted to eight public hospitals in Babylon province during 6 years period (2010-2015), the records of all patients of hydatid disease were studied single handy by the researcher, incomplete, duplicated records and non surgically operated patients were excluded from this study. The period of the study extended from February 2016 through June 2016, the following independent variables were studied; such as socio-demographic data, clinical presentation of the disease and the organs involved and other characteristics of cyst. Results:-This study revealed that the average and the standard deviation of patients age were (34.13±16.17), females were significantly more infected than males (p>0.05), liver was the most infected organ (82.2%),more than two thirds of cases(70.2%) had a single cyst. The disease was predominantly present among rural dwellers(55.8%).About 15% of cases had cysts more than (10cm) in diameter. The predominant presentation of the disease was abdominal pain(52.4%) followed by abdominal mass. This study revealed that this disease was predominated in people with low socioeconomic status. Conclusion:-Hydatid cyst disease is an endemic disease in Babylon province, it was more common in females, low socioeconomic status groups, rural dwellers; liver is the most commonly infected organ. A strategic plan should be put to eliminate this disease in our society.