Objectives
Previous research on the effects of alcohol and tobacco on diverticular disease primarily focuses on asymptomatic diverticulosis or severe cases of diverticulitis. This study investigates the impact of tobacco and alcohol use on the risk of developing diverticulitis in a large cohort of women.
Methods
A prospective study was conducted with 84,232 women aged 39 to 52 years from the Nurses´ Health Study II (NHS II), all of whom had no known history of diverticulitis at the study´s onset in 2003. Data on smoking and alcohol consumption were collected every two years.
Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results
Over 1,139,660 person-years of follow-up, 3,018 new cases of diverticulitis were identified.
After adjusting for other risk factors, both current smokers (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04–1.39) and former smokers (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11–1.30) showed an increased risk of developing diverticulitis compared to those who never smoked.
Women who consumed 30 grams or more of alcohol per day had a multivariate HR of 1.26 (95% CI, 1.05–1.50) compared to non-drinkers.
A combined analysis of smoking and alcohol consumption revealed that individuals who had ever smoked and consumed 15 grams or more of alcohol per day had a higher risk of developing diverticulitis (multivariate HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.16–2.21) compared to those who never smoked and did not consume alcohol.
Conclusions
In this large prospective study of women, both smoking and alcohol consumption were linked to an increased risk of developing diverticulitis.
These findings highlight additional modifiable risk factors for diverticulitis that could be valuable in prevention efforts.
