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The following is a summary of “Appendectomy, acute appendicitis, and gastrointestinal diseases: A Mendelian Randomization study,” published in the November 2024 issue of Surgery by Zhao et al.
Appendectomy is the standard treatment for acute appendicitis, but the impact of these conditions on gastrointestinal diseases remains unclear.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the effects of appendectomy and acute appendicitis on gastrointestinal diseases.
They selected genetic variants linked to appendectomy and acute appendicitis (P<5.0E−08) as an instrumental variable and performed 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses, both univariate and multivariate.
The results showed that appendectomy was linked to an increased risk of colon cancer (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.15 – 2.07; P=0.004; false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected P=0.016) and a decreased risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38 – 0.84; P=0.004; FDR-corrected P=0.016). Additionally, acute appendicitis was also associated with a higher risk of cholelithiasis (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.06 – 1.27; P=0.002; FDR-corrected P=0.016).
They concluded that in European populations, appendectomy and acute appendicitis may affect the risk of several gastrointestinal diseases, further studies are needed.
Source: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(24)00659-7/abstract
