Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II receptor blockers and hemorrhoids: A nationwide, population-based study

Abstract

The authors investigated whether there is an association between angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) users with hemorrhoids. A total of 21,670 ACEI users and 21,670 ARB users during 2000 − 2012 from a national health insurance database were included. Hemorrhoid incidences were monitored to the end of 2013. To examine the risk of hemorrhoids, the Cox proportional hazard model and the Kaplan–Meier method were used. The incidence rate of hemorrhoids in ARB users was 6.64 per 1000 person-years, which was higher than that of the ACEI users (5.48 per 1000 person-years). The adjusted hazard ratio of hemorrhoids in patients who received ACEI relative to those who received ARB was 0.83 (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.75, 0.92). Compared to ARB users, patients who used ACEI more than 740 days per year (adjusted hazard ratios = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.36, 0.54) and more than 7800 mg (adjusted hazard ratios = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.46, 0.65) had a lower risk of hemorrhoids. ACEI users who took a relatively long period or high cumulative dosage were found to less prone to develop hemorrhoids.