Association Between Alcohol Use Disorder and Ischemic Colitis: A Case-Control Study in Pakistani Patients

Abstract

Objective: To investigate how alcohol use disorder relates to ischemic colitis among Pakistani individuals.

Methodology: A case-control hospital-based study was conducted in different hospital settings in Pakistan from Feb to July 2025. The research involved hundred participants diagnosed with IC as well as hundred participants who had similar demographics but lacked ischemic colitis. A standardized set of questionnaires gathered information about demographic characteristics in combination with comorbidities, smoking behavior, alcohol use patterns and diet. The evaluation of AUD used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Logistic regression analysis with smoking, body mass index (BMI), diabetes and hypertension as control variables evaluated the associated between IC and AUD.

Results: The prevalence of AUD was 20% in IC case subjects yet 14% in comparison participants though this difference proved statistically insignificant with a p value of 0.12. The analysis revealed that AUD alone showed no correlation with IC since the adjusted odds ratio equaled 1.3 with 95% confidence interval from 0.7 to 2.2 and a p value of 0.24. The analysis revealed smoking as a significant risk element for the development of IC (aOR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.1, p = 0.02). BMI and diabetes with hypertension displayed no meaningful relationships with ischemic colitis.

Conclusion: AUD proved not to act as an independent factor for IC when confounders were accounted for throughout the analysis. The study revealed smoking behavior as the primary cause that leads to IC. More extensive prospective research is required to investigate how smoking and alcohol usage jointly create risks for developing IC.