Diverticulosis and risk of diverticulitis in 10 years; a Swedish retrospective observational study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study flow chart.

Table 1. Characteristics of the study population.

	Did not develop diverticulitis	Developed diverticulitis
n	2598	50
Diverticulosis, n (%)
No	1 728 (66.5)	10 (20.0)
Yes	870 (33.5)	40 (80.0)
Sex, n (%)
Female	1 367 (52.6)	33 (66.0)
Male	1 231 (47.4)	17 (34.0)
Age (median [range])	62 [3, 93]	64 [23, 88]
Age group, n (%)
<41	519 (20.0)	1 (2.0)
41–60	700 (26.9)	11 (22.0)
61–80	1 083 (41.7)	28 (56.0)
≥81	296 (11.4)	10 (20.0)
Reason for colonoscopy, n (%)
Bleeding	488 (18.8)	15 (30.0)
Cancer*	846 (32.6)	20 (40.0)
Diarrhea	69 (2.7)	2 (4.0)
Diverticular disease**	87 (3.4)	2 (4.0)
Inflammatory disease	633 (24.4)	2 (4.0)
Polyps	339 (13.1)	6 (12.0)
Other	134 (5.2)	3 (6.0)

*referrals due to symptoms indicating malignancy and for follow-up after colorectal cancer surgery.

**not previous diverticulitis.

Table 2. Risk ratios for the risk of developing diverticulitis by age.

	Presence of diverticulosis
Age group	Diverticulitis n (%)	RR (95 % CI)	P
<41	1/17 (5.9)	1.3 (0.2-9.0)	0.74
41–60	5/151 (3.3)	1.0 (0.4-2.3)	0.94
61–80	25/550 (4.5)	1.0 (Ref.)
≥81	9/194 (4.6)	1.0 (0.5-2.1)	0.94

Data availability statement

The data will be available upon request.