Inflammatory Bowel Disease Increases the Risk of Peripheral Arterial Disease: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Studies on the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are scant. This nationwide population-based cohort study assessed the relationship between IBD and further risk of PAD. This nationwide population-based cohort study was based on data obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database from 2000 to 2010, with a follow-up period extending to the end of 2011. We identified inpatients with newly diagnosed IBD by using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. In addition, we selected a comparison cohort from the inpatient claims that was randomly frequency-matched according to age, sex, and index year. We analyzed the risks of PAD by using Cox proportional hazards regression models, including sex, age, and comorbidities. A total of 11,067 IBD patients and 43,765 controls were enrolled in this study. The risk of developing PAD was 1.29-fold in the patients with IBD compared with the comparison cohort, after age, sex, and comorbidities were adjusted. The patients with IBD who required 2 or more hospitalizations per year were nearly 27.5-fold more likely to have PAD compared with the comparison cohort. This nationwide population-based cohort study demonstrated that PAD risks are higher in patients with IBD compared with those inpatients without IBD. Careful follow-up observation and aggressive effective treatment should be sought for patients with IBD to reduce the risk of PAD.