Impact of metabolic syndrome on the hospitalization rate of Crohn's disease patients seen at a tertiary care center: A retrospective cohort study

Background/Aims: Recent studies suggest that markers of mesenteric inflammation, such as increased adipose tissue, may be associated with poor outcomes in Crohn's disease (CD). This study's hypothesis is that CD patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) have more CD-related hospitalizations than CD patients without MetS. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of CD patients seen from 2000 to 2012 at our tertiary care center. We analyzed crude and age-, sex- and duration of CD-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of CD-related hospitalization of those with MetS versus those without MetS. We also investigated possible associations between individual component conditions of MetS and rate of CD-related hospitalization. Results: A total of 868 CD patients were included. There were 37 (4%) patients with MetS at initial observation. After multi-variable adjustment, patients with MetS had a CD-related hospitalization rate twice that of those who did not have MetS. High triglycerides (TG), low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and diabetes mellitus (DM) were associated with increased risk of CD-related hospitalization. Conclusions: CD patients with MetS have a higher rate of CD-related hospitalization compared to those without MetS. Hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol and DM may be good markers of local and systemic inflammation as seen in CD.