The Saudi Journal of Gastroenterology (Jan 2020)

Nonclostridium difficile enteric infection and the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

  • Cong Dai,
  • Yu-Hong Huang,
  • Min Jiang,
  • Ming-Jun Sun

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/sjg.SJG_231_20
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 6
pp. 299 – 305

Abstract

Read online

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory intestinal disorder. Some studies have investigated the association between non-Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) enteric infection and the risk of developing IBD with conflicting conclusions. The objective of our study was to perform a meta-analysis of available studies evaluating the possible association between non-CDI enteric infection and the risk of developing IBD. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search of multiple online electronic databases. Inclusion criteria entailed studies about non-CDI enteric infection and IBD; A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of combined studies for the association between non-CDI enteric infection and the risk of developing IBD. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plot analysis. Results: Eight studies comprising 345,490 enteric infected patients, 3223 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and 2133 CD patients were included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed a significantly higher risk of UC in patients with enteric infection compared with noninfected patients (RR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.85–2.8) (I2 = 91.3%, P < 0.001). It also showed a significantly higher risk of CD in patients with enteric infection compared with noninfected patients (RR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.66–2.14) (I2 = 49%, P = 0.024). Conclusion: Our meta-analysis has found that patients with non-CDI enteric infection were associated with an increased risk of IBD. Future studies are needed to determine the association between non-CDI enteric infection and the risk of developing IBD and elucidate the potential underlying mechanisms.

Keywords