An interleukin-4 polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to Clostridium difficile infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: results of a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Clinical studies have suggested that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at greater risk for developing Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). The purpose of this study was to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with CDI among IBD patients. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used our biobank to compare patients with IBD who developed CDI (IBD-CDI) with those who had never contracted CDI (IBD-nCDI). Patients were genotyped for 384 IBD-associated SNPs by microarray. Student t, chi-square, and Fisher exact tests were used. Multivariate logistic regression with Bonferroni correction was used for genotype analysis. RESULTS: Twenty IBD-CDI (14 with Crohn disease; 6 with ulcerative colitis) and 152 IBD-nCDI (47 CD/105 UC) patients were identified. The interleukin-4-associated SNP rs2243250 was associated with the development of CDI (raw P = .00005/corrected P = .02), with 15 of 20 (75%) CDI-IBD patients harboring the at-risk "A" allele versus 52 of 152 (34%) of IBD-nCDI. When we compared Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis patients separately, rs2243250 initially was associated with CDI in both groups, although clinical relevance was lost after Bonferroni correction. CONCLUSION: The interleukin-4 gene-associated SNP rs2243250 was strongly associated with CDI in our IBD population. This SNP may allow for the identification of IBD patients at greater risk for CDI.

Increased risk of incisional hernia after sigmoid colectomy for diverticulitis compared with colon cancer.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine if an increased incidence of incisional hernias is present in patients undergoing sigmoidectomy for diverticulitis vs cancer. The pathophysiology of diverticulitis is poorly understood, but might involve a collagen vascular abnormality that can predispose to incisional hernia. STUDY DESIGN: In this IRB-approved, retrospective study, patients who underwent sigmoid colectomies for diverticulitis or cancer between January 2003 and September 2012 were studied. Exclusion criteria included the development of surgical site infections and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. A multivariate logistic regression was used with covariate adjustments for known risk factors for hernia development. RESULTS: Four hundred forty-two patients (mean age 59.3 ± 13.9 years) with a median follow-up of 30 months were analyzed. The incidence of incisional hernia was 15.1% in diverticulitis patients vs 5.8% in the cancer cohort (41 of 271 vs 10 of 171; p = 0.003). Univariate analysis of risk factors associated with postoperative incisional hernia included steroid use (p = 0.007), wound packing (p = 0.001), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists classification (p = 0.001), absorbable suture closure (p = 0.02), blood transfusion (p = 0.04), stoma formation (p = 0.02), increased body mass index (p = 0.008), and history of incisional hernia (p = 0.00008). Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated a persistent association between diverticulitis and hernia development (p = 0.01). Odds of a hernia developing after sigmoidectomy for diverticulitis were 2.82 times greater than in the cancer cohort (95% CI, 1.3-6.6). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of an incisional hernia developing after a sigmoid colectomy is significantly higher when performed for diverticulitis as compared with cancer. This might be due to a connective tissue disorder, which predisposes to development of both diverticula and hernias.