BACKGROUND/AIMS: Left-sided diverticulitis is increasing in Japan, and many studies report that left-sided diverticulitis is more likely to be severe. Therefore, it is important to identify the features and risk factors for left-sided diverticulitis. We hypothesized that left-sided diverticulitis in Japan is related to obesity and conducted a study of the features and risk factors for this disorder in Japan. METHODS: Right-sided diverticulitis and left-sided diverticulitis patients (total of 215) were compared with respect to background, particularly obesity-related factors to identify risk factors for diverticulitis. RESULTS: There were 166 (77.2%) right-sided diverticulitis patients and 49 (22.8%) left-sided diverticulitis patients. The proportions of obese patients (body mass index > or =25 kg/m2, p=0.0349), viscerally obese patients (visceral fat area > or =100 cm2, p=0.0019), patients of mean age (p=0.0003), and elderly patients (age > or =65 years, p=0.0177) were significantly higher in the left-sided-diverticulitis group than in the right-sided-diverticulitis group. The proportion of viscerally obese patients was significantly higher in the left-sided-diverticulitis group than in the left-sided-diverticulosis group (p=0.0390). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that obesity, particularly visceral obesity, was a risk factor for left-sided diverticulitis in Japan.
Aged ; Diverticulitis ; Humans ; Japan ; Obesity ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

Opioids are known to cause dysfunction of the sphincter of Oddi. However, there are no reports on acute cholangitis due to opioid-induced dysfunction of the sphincter of Oddi. A 75-year-old woman with breast cancer, who had been prescribed oxycodone for lower abdominal pain due to unknown causes for 8 years, suddenly developed hypochondriac pain. We diagnosed the patient as having acute cholangitis and performed endoscopic retrograde pancreatography and technetium hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid scan. The cause of acute cholangitis was considered to be opioid-induced dysfunction of the sphincter of Oddi. Six and nine days after admission, endoscopic sphincterotomy was performed, after which her upper abdominal pain resolved. Opioids increase biliary pressure and delay bile flow into the duodenum in patients after cholecystectomy. However, the actual clinical outcomes of using opioids for acute cholangitis and pancreatitis remain unknown. Thus, although opioid-induced dysfunction of the sphincter of Oddi is uncommon, it should be assessed in patients who are prescribed opioids.