Introduction Current studies reporting on the risk of smoking and development of symptomatic diverticular disease have reported conflicting results.^1,2The aim of this study was to investigate the association between smoking and symptomatic diverticular disease.

Method We used data from the Swedish Construction Workers Cohort (persons with a first examination in 1987–1993). These workers answered detailed questionnaires on smoking habits at the time of enrolment. We linked their data to the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register from 1987 to identify hospital admissions for symptomatic diverticular disease. Relative Risks (RRs) of symptomatic diverticular disease according to smoking status were estimated using Poisson regression and adjusted for age, body mass index and socioeconomic status.

Results We identified 64640 men with a median age of 28.8 years. During follow-up 597 (0.9%) men were diagnosed with symptomatic diverticular disease. Heavy smokers (>15 cigarettes a day) had a 1.8 fold increased risk of developing symptomatic diverticular disease compared to non-smokers (adjusted RR 1.79, 95% CI 1.43–2.23). There was evidence of a dose response relationship as moderate and ex-smokers had a 1.5 and 1.4 fold increased risk compared to non-smokers (adjusted RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.14–1.93 and adjusted RR 1.40, 95% CI 1.06–1.86).

Conclusion Smoking is associated with symptomatic diverticular disease.

Disclosure of interest None Declared.

References

1. Aldoori WH, Giovannucci EL, Rimm EB, Wing AL, Trichopoulos DV, Willett WC. A prospective study of alcohol, smoking, caffeine, and the risk of symptomatic diverticular disease in men. Ann Epidemiol. 1995;5(3):221–8

2. Hjern F, Wolk A, Håkansson N. Smoking and the risk of diverticular disease in women. Br J Surg. 2011;98(7):997–1002