Abstract
Purpose
To determine if there is an association between diverticular disease and colon cancer diagnoses with a secondary outcome of assessing other known risk factors for colon cancer. Colon cancer and diverticular disease have many shared symptoms and risk factors; the association between the two has been debated for many years.
Methods
36 cases of colon cancer and 144 age- and sex-matched controls were identified from records at an outpatient endoscopy center in Georgia. These cases and controls then were subject to a retrospective chart review to obtain any known risk factor data points for both diverticular disease and colon cancer. A traditional conditional logistic regression and a stepwise conditional logistic regression model were used to analyze the data using significant data points (P < 0.05).
Results
The final stepwise model found that systolic blood pressure (aOR = 1.027, 95% CI = 1.001 to 1.053), history of polyps (aOR = 0.106, 95% CI = 0.029 to 0.387), exercise (aOR = 0.311, 95% CI = 0.029 to 0.387), and history of diverticular disease (aOR = 0.269, 95% CI = 0.091 to 0.795) were protective factors significantly associated with colon cancer.
Conclusions
Presence and history of the removal of colorectal polyps, presence or history of diverticular disease, and exercise pose as protective factors against development of colon cancer.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to Changwei Li, MD, PhD, MPH, and Justin Ingels, PhD(c), MPH, MS for the encouragement and guidance on general case-control study designs. Thank you to the staff at Athens Gastroenterology Association for allowing the authors to ascertain and utilize de-identified patient data for this study.
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This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Georgia.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Kearney, M.B., Williams, J.M. & Ebell, M.H. Colon Cancer and Diverticular Disease Association: a Case-Control Study. J Gastrointest Canc 52, 120–124 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-019-00355-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-019-00355-1