Abstract

RUIZ MORALES, Óscar Fernando; OTERO REGINO, William; GOMEZ ZULETA, Martín Alonso  and  CASTRO SOTELDO, Dennys. Abdominal Obesity Increases the Risks of Colorectal Polyps. Rev Col Gastroenterol [online]. 2014, vol.29, n.4, pp.376-382. ISSN 0120-9957.

Introduction: Recently several international publications have found an association between obesity and polyps and/or colorectal cancers. In our country the possibilities of these associations have not been studied. The aim of this study was to determine whether obese patients have polyps or colorectal cancers more frequently than found in the general population. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of patients referred for total colonoscopies for screening that were conducted between March 2012 and June 2013. Three university hospitals, Clínica Fundadores and Hospital El Tunal in Bogotà, Colombia and the Centro de  Control de Cancer Gastrointestinal “Luis E Anderson” in Venezuela, participated in the study. All patients were weighed and height, body mass index (kg/m2) and waist circumference in centimeters were measured. The prevalence of polyps in the population was estimated and the risk was determined by means of Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: 405 patients were included in the study, 68.9% of whom were women. The mean patient age was 56.1 years +/- 12.9 years. 154 (38%) had polyps, of these 113 (73%) (p = 0.01), met the criteria for abdominal obesity, and 41 (27%) (p = 0.03) did not meet these criteria. Logistic regression analysis found no relationship between increased abdominal circumference and the presence of polyps in the colon, but for every additional centimeter of waist circumference the risk of polyps increased 5.3%. Conclusion: In the population examined, obese patients had polyps more frequently than did others, and this risk increased with the severity of obesity.

Keywords : Obesity; overweight; polyps; cancer.

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