High BMI linked to risk for diverticulitis in Hispanic, Latino American individuals
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Key takeaways:
- Higher BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio were associated with an increased risk for diverticulitis in Hispanic and Latino American individuals.
- Obesity also may be a risk factor for diverticulitis.
Higher BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio correlated with an increased risk for diverticulitis among Hispanic and Latino American individuals, according to study results published in JAMA Surgery.
“Overweight and obesity have been shown to be risk factors for diverticulitis, but studies have been limited to largely white individuals,” study author Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the clinical and translational epidemiology unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio. “We wanted to determine if this association was also true among Latino populations.”
With incidence of diverticulitis increasing among Hispanic American individuals, particularly in young Hispanic adults with obesity, Chan and colleagues conducted a prospective, population-based cohort study to examine the association of obesity measures with risk for diverticulitis in this population.
They enrolled 15,946 Hispanic and Latino adults (mean age, 45.7 years; 60.1% women) in Bronx, New York; Chicago; Miami; and San Diego from 2008 to 2011, and collected demographic, lifestyle and health data through in-person interviews and clinical examination. Participants were monitored annually for hospitalizations or emergency department visits.
Researchers also reviewed medical records to identify diverticulitis as a cause for hospital visits and censored participants at the first occurrence of diverticulitis, death, last follow-up or October 2020.
Over a mean follow-up of 8 years, researchers reported 71 incident cases of diverticulitis which led to hospitalization or ED visits. After adjusting for confounders, they demonstrated that each standard deviation increase in BMI (HR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.05-2.09), waist circumference (HR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.08-2.12), waist-to-hip ratio (HR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.17-2.55) and fat percentage (HR = 1.69; 95% CI, 0.98-2.9) correlated with an increased risk for diverticulitis. Researchers noted similar results for all identified cases of diverticulitis (n = 133).
Compared with participants who had a BMI less than 25 kg/m2, HRs were 1.31 (95% CI, 0.44-3.96) among those with a BMI of 25 to 29, 1.82 (95% CI, 0.58-5.73) for a BMI of 30 to 34.9 and 3.04 (95% CI, 0.81-11.42) for a BMI of 35 or greater.
For those with BMIs of 30 to 34.9 and 35 or greater, HRs were 1.5 (95% CI, 0.73-3.06) and 2.5 (95% CI, 1.01-6.19) compared with a BMI of less than 30.
“We found that association between obesity and overweight and diverticulitis was also observed among Latinx populations,” Chan told Healio. “Additional research is needed to understand if other risk factors may differ in diverse populations.”
He continued, “Our study shows the importance of counseling individuals about the important of diet and lifestyle to lower risk of many conditions, including diverticulitis, which is a leading cause of gastrointestinal hospital admissions and emergency room visits.”
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