P1188 - Analysis of Risk Factors Contributing to the Presence of Diverticulosis in the Elderly Aged 75 Years and Above

Farah Harmouch, MD¹, Hammad Liaquat, MD¹, Brittney Shupp, DO¹, Nishit Patel, MD², Jill Stoltzfus, PhD¹, Yecheskel Schneider, MD¹, Kimberly Chaput, DO^3
1St. Luke's University Health Network, Bethlehem, PA; ²St. Luke's University Hospital, Easton, PA; ³St. Luke's University Health Network, Fountain Hill, PA

Introduction: Colonic diverticulosis is a disease that is most common in the elderly with a prevalence that increases with age. Its incidence varies greatly worldwide, however, it is common among the US population. Data concerning risk factors in the US population is lacking, especially in the elderly age group. In our study, we aim to identify independent risk factors leading to the presence of diverticulosis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review to identify patients over the age of 75 who underwent a colonoscopy between 2012 and 2019 within our health network. We divided our sample into a younger age group (75-84 years old) and an older age group (≥85) We collected data on patient demographics, comorbidities, and colonoscopy findings. All statistical analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS Version 26 to analyze our data.

Results: A total of 1080 patients were included in our sample. The majority of our patients were females (56.8%), Caucasians (93.7%), and from the younger age group (84.2%). Higher proportion of patient with colonic diverticulosis had a history of constipation, dementia, hypertension, and were smokers (Table 1). On further analysis, older age (p-value 0.008), white race (p-value 0.02), and hypertension (p-value 0.10) were noted to be significant risk factors for developing colonic diverticulosis while impaired fasting glucose (IFG) was significantly associated with lower risk for it (p-value 0.02). On multivariate regression, age > 85 years (OR = 1.65, p-value 0.02) and hypertension (OR = 1.42, p-value 0.04) had a significantly associated increased risk while IFG was significantly associated with decreased risk of colonic diverticulosis (OR = 0.71, p=0.02).

Discussion: To our knowledge, our study is one of the few studies assessing metabolic risk factors in colonic diverticulosis in the US. As seen in prior studies, increasing age showed an association with colonic diverticular disease. While there is no consensus in prior literature about association of hypertension, our study reveals a strong association. IFG revealed a protective effect in our study, but mixed results have been seen previously and the role of IFG continues to evolve. Further studies with larger populations will be needed to further understand this association further.

Characteristics	Diverticulosis (n = 781)	No Diverticulosis (n = 299)	p-value*
Age (75-84/ ≥85),n	643/138	266/33	0.008
Gender (Male/Female),n	335/446	132/167	.71
Race (White/others), n	740/41	272/27	.02
Obesity, n (%)	247 (31.6%)	94 (31.4%)	.95
ASA > 3, n (%)	320 (40.97%)	121 (40.47%)	.88
Constipation, n (%)	279 (35.7%)	98 (32.8%)	.36
Dementia, n (%)	47 (6.02%)	12 (4.01%)	.20
Metabolic Syndrome, n (%)	250 (32.01%)	100 (33.44%)	.65
IFG, n (%)	262 (33.5%)	123 (41.1%)	.02
Hypertriglyceridemia, n (%)	141 (18.1%)	54 (18.1%)	.99
Low HDL, n (%)	155 (19.8%)	65 (21.7%)	.49
Hypertension, n (%)	648 (82.97%)	235 (78.6%)	.10
Hypothyroidism, n (%)	191 (24.5%)	72 (24.1%)	.90
Iron-Deficiency Anemia, n (%)	143 (18.3%)	56 (18.7%)	.87
Smoker, n (%)	65 (8.3%)	20 (6.7%)	.37

Table: Table 1: Bivariate Comparisons of Demographic and Clinical Variables for Diverticulosis (N = 1,080).
Footnotes: * Based on separate chi square tests.


Disclosures:
Farah Harmouch indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Hammad Liaquat indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Brittney Shupp indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Nishit Patel indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Jill Stoltzfus indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Yecheskel Schneider indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Kimberly Chaput indicated no relevant financial relationships.


Farah Harmouch, MD¹, Hammad Liaquat, MD¹, Brittney Shupp, DO¹, Nishit Patel, MD², Jill Stoltzfus, PhD¹, Yecheskel Schneider, MD¹, Kimberly Chaput, DO³. P1188 - Analysis of Risk Factors Contributing to the Presence of Diverticulosis in the Elderly Aged 75 Years and Above, ACG 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Las Vegas, Nevada: American College of Gastroenterology.