Risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma after an appendectomy: results from three large prospective cohort studies and meta-analysis

Purpose

The relationship between appendectomy and subsequent colorectal cancer risk remains unclear, and no study has examined its association with colorectal adenoma.

Methods

We used data from three prospective cohorts: Health Professionals Follow-up Study, Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), and NHSII. Appendectomy history was self-reported at baseline. Colorectal cancer risk was analyzed with Cox proportional hazard models among 224,109 participants followed up to 32 years. Colorectal adenoma risk was evaluated among 157,490 participants with at least one lower gastrointestinal endoscopy during follow-up with logistic regression models accounting for repeated observations. We also performed a meta-analysis of cohort studies that examined association between appendectomy and colorectal cancer risk.

Results

We documented 3,384 colorectal cancers, 13,006 conventional adenomas, and 11,519 serrated polyps during the follow-up period. Compared to participants without appendectomy, those who reported appendectomy history were not at higher risk of colorectal (HR [95% CI], 0.92 [0.84–1.00]), colon (0.92 [0.83–1.01]), or rectal (0.85 [0.70–1.03]) cancer. Similarly, appendectomy history was not associated with higher risk of conventional adenoma (OR [95% CI], 1.00 [0.97–1.02]), serrated polyp (0.97 [0.94–1.00]), or high-risk adenoma (0.96 [0.92–1.01]). The meta-analysis showed appendectomy was associated with a higher risk of colorectal cancer within a short time after the procedure (1.68 [1.01–2.81]), while the long-term risk was slightly inverse (0.94 [0.90–0.97]).

Conclusion

We found no evidence of an association between appendectomy history and long-term risk of colorectal cancer or its precursors. The observed higher risk of colorectal cancer right after appendectomy in the first few years is likely due to reverse causation.