Morphometric assessment of spleen dimensions and its determinants among individuals living in Arba Minch town, southern Ethiopia

Introduction: The spleen is a vital lymphoid soft organ that demands constant attention from the clinical point of view. It is a multi-dimensional organ that enlarges in its all dimensions during some disease condition. The detection of the spleen by palpation is not an indicator of an enlarged spleen because normal spleen may be palpable. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the morphometry of spleen dimensions and its determinants among individuals living in Arba Minch town by sonographic examinations. Methods and materials: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Arba Minch town from February 1 to March 30, 2020. Seven hundred and eight study participants were selected using a multi-stage systematic random sampling technique. Data were checked for completeness, edited, coded and entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported to STATA software version 16 for analysis. Result: The mean splenic length, width, thickness and volume were 10.24 cm, 4.79 cm, 3.93 cm, and 109.34 cm3, respectively. The mean spleen length, width, thickness and volumes among males were 10.64 cm, 4.92 cm, 4.05 cm and 119.81 cm3 and among females were 9.75 cm, 4.63 cm, 3.78 cm and 96.50 cm3 respectively. As age increased by one year the mean spleen length, width, thickness and volume was decreased by 0.032 cm, 0.018 cm 0.004 cm and 0.012 cm respectively. As height increased by 1 cm the mean spleen width and volume were increased by 0.096 cm and 0.052 cm respectively. As we go from male to female the mean spleen length decreased by 0.294 cm. Conclusion: The spleen dimensions were higher in males than females. Splenic length was determined by age & sex, the spleen width was determined by age & height, the spleen volume was determined by age & height and the spleen thickness was determined by age.