*EMBARGOED All research presented at the World Congress of Gastroenterology at ACG2017 is strictly embargoed until Monday, October 16, 2017, at 8:00 am EDT.
Poster 1044 Comparing Risk Factors in Individuals with Conventional High-Risk Adenomas and Clinically Significant Serrated Polyps
Author Insight from Joseph C. Anderson, MD, MHCDS, Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine
What’s new here and important for clinicians?
While smoking is a known risk factor for conventional adenomas, the data linking it to polyps in the serrated pathway is less clear. One issue is that serrated polyps can be present with conventional adenomas in the same individual. In order to examine the link between smoking and serrated polyps, it is important to distinguish risk factors present in individuals with only serrated polyps or adenomas versus those people with both serrated polyps and conventional adenomas. In particular individuals with polyps from both pathways may be at higher risk for colorectal neoplasia than adults with serrated polyps or adenomas alone. Thus a large database is needed to examine risk factors in these sub-groups of adults with serrated polyps. We used the large prospective database, the New Hampshire Colonoscopy Registry (NHCR), to examine this issue. We observed that current smokers were at higher risk for having serrated polyps and conventional adenomas. The association was stronger than that for individuals with only serrated polyps or conventional adenomas.
What do patients need to know?
It is known that smoking is a major risk factor for adenomas, which are a well-recognized colorectal cancer (CRC) precursor. Another precursor for CRC is the serrated polyp, which has been described more recently. This current study links cigarette smoking with an increased risk for having significant colorectal polyps from these two separate pathways. Although not examined in this study, cessation of smoking is likely to decrease the risk for these polyps.
Author Contact
Joseph C. Anderson, MD, MHCDS, Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine
joseph.anderson@dartmouth.edu
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