Serum bilirubin levels and risk of colorectal cancer in Korean adults: results from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study-Health Examinee (KoGES-HEXA) Cohort Study

Current evidence on associations between circulating bilirubin and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk is inconsistent.

In this prospective study, we investigated associations of pre-diagnostic circulating levels of total and indirect bilirubin with CRC risk in 78,467 Korean adults aged 40–78 years at recruitment, considering potential non-linearity and sex differences. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations with CRC risk were estimated with Cox proportional hazard regression.

During a median 7.9-year follow-up, 539 incident CRC cases were recorded. In multivariable-adjusted models, higher levels of total bilirubin were associated with a 26% (CI: 42% to 7%) lower risk of CRC among men and women combined, comparing the highest with the lowest tertile (P-linear trend = 0.003). A U-shaped association was observed in men, with the lowest risk at approximately 0.8 mg/dL (=13.7 μmol/L) of total bilirubin (P for non-linearity = 0.01). Although the association was largely null in women, there was no evidence for effect modification by sex (P-interaction = 0.73). Associations between indirect bilirubin and CRC risk were similar.

Higher circulating levels of total and indirect bilirubin were inversely associated with the risk of CRC among Korean adults. The associations were strongly inverse and U-shaped among men.