A Multicenter Prospective, Observational Study of Observation Versus Colectomy in Recurrent Diverticulitis

Understanding changes in quality of life that occur with colectomy is critical to decision-making in management of recurrent diverticulitis. We hypothesized that patients choosing colectomy at surgical consultation would report better disease-specific quality of life at 1 year than those choosing observation.

To investigate the association between colectomy versus observation for recurrent sigmoid diverticulitis and disease-specific quality of life at 1 year.

We performed a multicenter prospective observational study including patients with recurrent uncomplicated diverticulitis choosing colectomy versus observation at initial consultation. The primary outcome was disease-specific quality of life at 1 year, measured by the Diverticulitis Quality of Life questionnaire total score.

A total of 113 patients were enrolled (median age 57; 64% female, 92% white); 42 (37%) chose colectomy at surgical consultation. At enrollment, median lifetime episodes of diverticulitis were similar between groups (colectomy: 5, observation: 4); the colectomy group had a higher rate of hospitalization in the past 5 years (colectomy: 71%, observation: 49%). In an adjusted linear mixed effects model, choosing colectomy was associated with better quality of life by 1.73 points (95% CI: 1.02-2.46) compared with choosing observation. 7 people (17%) who chose colectomy experienced recurrence within 1 year compared with 32 who chose observation (45%). In an adjusted model, choosing colectomy was associated with lower odds of recurrence (aOR 0.16; 95% CI: 0.05-0.48).

For patients with recurrent sigmoid diverticulitis presenting for surgical consultation, colectomy may offer meaningful improvement in disease-specific quality of life and may be associated with reduced 1-year recurrence rates.