Smoking, drinking up risk of diverticulitis in women

Women who smoke and consume alcohol appear to be at increased risk of diverticulitis, according to a study.

For the study, researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II) and included 84,232 women who were 39–52 years old and had no known diverticulitis at baseline. Smoking was determined every 2 years, while alcohol use was assessed every 4 years.

Over 1,139,660 person-years of follow up, 3,018 incident cases of diverticulitis were documented. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models showed that the risk of diverticulitis was 20-percent higher among women with current smoking (hazard ratio [HR], 1.20, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.39) and past smoking (HR, 1.20, 95 percent CI, 1.11–1.30) status compared with those who were never smokers.

A risk increase was also seen among women who consumed ≥30 g/day of alcohol relative to those who did not drink (HR, 1.26, 95 percent CI, 1.05–1.50).

In a joint analysis of smoking and alcohol, women who ever smoked and consumed ≥30 g of alcohol per day had the highest risk of diverticulitis compared with those who never smoked and reported no alcohol use (HR, 1.53, 95 percent CI, 1.22–1.91).

The findings underscore additional modifiable risk factors for diverticulitis that may aid in prevention.