Statins and risk of diverticular disease: Nested case–control study

• Published in: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2021-06, Vol.30 (6), p.770-778
• Main Authors: Skajaa, Nils, Schønfeldt Troelsen, Frederikke, Pedersen, Lars, Ekholm, Ola, Strate, Lisa L., Erichsen, Rune, Sørensen, Henrik Toft
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Colon; diverticular disease; Inflammation; nested case–control study; Socioeconomic factors; Statins
• ISSN: 1053-8569; 1099-1557
• DOI: 10.1002/pds.5205

Background Statins exert pleiotropic anti‐inflammatory effects and may prevent diverticular disease. However, the association remains poorly understood with previous studies obtaining conflicting results. Aims To examine the effect of statin on the subsequent risk of diverticular disease. Methods We conducted a nested case–control study in Denmark among respondents (>18 years) of the 2010 or the 2013 Danish National Health Survey. Among these, we identified 8809 cases of hospital‐diagnosed diverticular disease and risk‐set sampled population controls without diverticular disease. Using complete prescription and hospital records, we used conditional logistic regression to compute odds ratios (ORs) associating statin use with diverticular disease. In adjusted analyses, we controlled for hospital‐based diagnoses, medication use other than statins, and lifestyle and socioeconomic factors. Results The fully adjusted OR for diverticular disease associated with ever use (≥1 statin prescription filling) was 1.19 (95% CI: 1.12–1.27) compared with never use. However, we observed no dose–response relation. For example, among short‐term users (