Prevalence of Anal Fistulas in Europe: Systematic Literature Reviews and Population-Based Database Analysis

Despite the fact that perianal fistulas are associated with significant morbidity and impaired quality of life, their prevalence in Europe is unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of perianal fistulas in Europe, overall and according to etiology.

Two independent literature reviews were performed using different search strategies to maximize the identification of potentially relevant studies. Data from relevant articles were used to estimate the prevalence of perianal fistulas in Europe. The robustness of the estimate was evaluated using data from a large population-based database from the UK.

A total of 26 studies provided epidemiological data on perianal fistulas, of which 16 provided suitable data to estimate the prevalence. Estimations using these data yielded a total prevalence of 1.69 per 10,000 population. Cryptoglandular infection and Crohn's disease (CD) were the predominant etiologies, with prevalence rates at 0.86 and 0.76 per 10,000 population, respectively. Comparison of prevalence data from the UK population-based database with the European population resulted in a standardized prevalence estimate of all perianal fistulas of 1.83 per 10,000 population, confirming the robustness of the literature-based estimate.

Although in terms of incidence cryptoglandular fistulas were clearly predominant, the prevalence of fistulas in CD and cryptoglandular infection appeared more balanced. This is due to the longer duration and higher frequency of relapses of fistulas in CD. The estimated prevalence implies that perianal fistulas meet the criteria to be considered as a rare condition in Europe (prevalence less than 5 per 10,000 population).

This study was funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical U.S.A., Inc. and TiGenix SAU.