Obesity is Associated With Increased Risk of Crohn’s disease, but not Ulcerative Colitis: A Pooled Analysis of Five Prospective Cohort Studies
Simon Chan, Ye Chen, Kevin Casey, Ola Olén, Jonas F. Ludvigsson, Franck Carbonnel, Bas Oldenburg, Marc J. Gunter, Anne Tjønneland, Olof Grip, Pilar Amian, Aurelio Barricarte, Manuela M. Bergmann, Marie‐Christine Boutron‐Ruault, Amanda J. Cross, Andrew Hart, Rudolf Kaaks, T J Key, María Dolores Chirlaque López, Robert Luben, Giovanna Masala, Jonas Manjer, Anja Olsen, Kim Overvad, Domenico Palli, Elio Ríboli, María‐José Sánchez, Rosario Tumino, Roel Vermeulen, W. M. Monique Verschuren, Nick Wareham, Ashwin N. Ananthakrishnan, Kristin E. Burke, Emily W. Lopes, James M. Richter, Paul Lochhead, Andrew T. Chan, A. Wolk, Hamed Khalili
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It is unclear whether obesity is associated with the development of inflammatory bowel disease despite compelling data from basic science studies. We therefore examined the association between obesity and risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS: We conducted pooled analyses of 5 prospective cohorts with validated anthropometric measurements for body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio and other lifestyle factors. Diagnoses of CD and UC were confirmed through medical records or ascertained using validated definitions. We used Cox proportional hazards modeling to calculate pooled multivariable-adjusted HRs (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: = 0%). No associations were observed between measures of obesity and risk of UC. CONCLUSIONS: In an adult population, obesity as measured by BMI was associated with an increased risk of older-onset CD but not UC.