Sigmoid volvulus and diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus (DM) complicates about 15.7% of sigmoid volvulus (SV) cases. However, the pathophysiology of this relation is still unclear. Our objective was to evaluate the association of DM and SV. METHODS: The clinical data of 1,051 patients treated in Ataturk University Faculty of Medicine during 56 years between June 1966 and July 2022 were considered. The records of 612 cases (58.2%) were evaluated retrospectively till June 1986, while 439 (41.8%) were investigated prospectively thereafter. To obtain the worldwide data, an electronic search of the last 56-years’ literature (from 1967 to date) was performed in Web of Science and PubMed databases. RESULTS: DM was statistically higher in SV patients than of general population (15.7% vs. 8.3%, p<0.001). Conversely, SV and DM co-occurrence was statistically lower in our series than of world-wide data (2.9% vs. 15.7%, p<0.001). In our series, SV and DM comorbidity was statistically higher in elders that that of children (3.9% vs. 0.0%, p<0.05). Although sigmoid gangrene was more common in DM patients when compared with that of total, the difference was not statistically significant (42.9% vs. 27.4%, p>0.05). Conversely, the mortality rate was statistically higher in DM cases than that of no diabetics in SV (28.6% vs. 7.8%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Although the pathophysiology of SV and DM comorbidity is still relatively unexplainable, our study suggests that DM worsens the prognosis of SV. For this reason, early diagnosis and proper treatment have great importance in such patients.