Patients with gastrointestinal disorders may be at a greater risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), especially peripheral artery disease (PAD) and coronary heart disease (CHD), a large-scale study comprising 330 751 individuals published in the “European Heart Journal” elucidated. Jie Chen and colleagues conducted a large-scale prospective cohort study to find the relationship between gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and the risk of developing CVD.

The research focused on people who did not have pre-existing CVD initially and were drawn from the UK Biobank cohort. These participants, both with and without GIs, were monitored over a median follow-up period of 11.8 years until the occurrence of incident CVDs (such as CHD, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease and PAD). The validation of diagnoses relied on a combination of data from nationwide inpatient records, primary care sources, and cancer registries.

The Cox regression model helped assess the association between GIs and CVD risk. The findings revealed that individuals with GIs were at an elevated risk of CVD (hazard ratio = 1.37, 95% confidence interval = 1.34-1.41, P < 0.001). Remarkably, 11 out of the 15 GIs showed a significant relationship with an increased CVD risk.

These GIs included cirrhosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), gastritis and duodenitis (inflammation of stomach and duodenum), irritable bowel syndrome, Barrett's oesophagus, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer, celiac disease, diverticulum, inflammation of the appendix, and biliary disease. Furthermore, it was observed that the strength of these associations was more pronounced among women, people aged 60 years or younger, and those with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m² or more.