Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the causal relationship between cholecystectomy and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)/irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and the role of serum bile acids and gut microbiota in this context. METHODS: Utilizing genetic variant data from previous Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), this study employed a two-sample MR approach to assess the causal effect of cholecystectomy on IBD/IBS. RESULTS: The MR analysis suggested a potential negative causal relationship between cholecystectomy and UC (p = 0.0233, OR 0.9773, 95%CI 0.9581-0.9969) and a positive causal relationship between cholecystectomy and IBS (p = 0.0395, OR 4.077, 95%CI 1.0699-15.5362). Various sensitivity analyses reinforced the reliability of the causal relationship. However, the analysis did not find definitive results between serum bile acids or gut microbiota and cholecystectomy or IBD/IBS, possibly due to insufficient statistical power. MVMR find a causal relationship between bile acids and IBS (p = 0.0015, b = 0.4085) and UC (p = 0.0198, b = 0.0029). CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of a causal relationship between cholecystectomy and IBD/IBS, highlighting the potential risk reduction for UC and increased risk for IBS following cholecystectomy. The role of bile acids and gut microbiota in this relationship remains unclear, necessitating further research to validate the causality and explore underlying mechanisms.