Sonnenberg A, et al. - This study entailed an examination of the frequency of comorbid occurrence of lymphocytic disorders in patients with microscopic colitis (MC). Lymphocytic disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract were identified that appeared to be notably more common in patients with than without MC. Such correlations pointed towards the existence of an underlying etiology, common to all lymphocytic disorders which influenced the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract.

Methods

• Data was extracted from the Miraca Life Sciences Database, a large national electronic repository of histopathologic records of patients throughout the United States.
• Researchers analyzed a cohort of 228,506 patients who underwent bidirectional endoscopy from January 2008 through July 2016.
• A scrutiny was conducted of the comorbid occurrence of celiac disease, duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis, lymphocytic gastritis, and lymphocytic esophagitis among 3,456 patients with MC.
• Herein, the correlations were elucidated with regard to their odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs.

Results

• The occurrence of any type of lymphocytic disorder was found in 13.7% of patients with MC and 5.9% of patients without MC.
• It was discovered that the ORs of lymphocytic disorders in patients with MC were: 2.56 (95% CI, 2.32-2.82) for any type of lymphocytic disorder, 3.07 (95% CI, 1.25-7.52) for lymphocytic esophagitis, 15.05 (95% CI, 12.31-18.41) for lymphocytic gastritis, 1.73 (95% CI, 1.53-21.96) for duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis, and 6.06 (95% CI, 5.06-7.25) for celiac disease.
• Findings revealed the common presence of comorbidities among subjects with lymphocytic compared to collagenous colitis, with an OR of 1.74 (95% CI, 1.42-2.13).
• It was reported that patients with MC with comorbidities were considerably younger and had a lower proportion of men than patients with MC patients without comorbidities.
• In all patients with MC, diarrhea was found to be the predominant symptom, regardless of the comorbidities.