Background The current study was designed to investigate the association between cholecystectomy and the risk of non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) infection. Methods We obtained claims-based data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) to perform a nationwide cohort study. A propensity score (PS)-matching analysis was performed with a ratio of 1:2 in the cholecystectomy cohort and cholecystectomy-free group to reduce selection bias. Both groups were followed until NTS diagnosis, a dropout from the insurance programme or the end of 2013. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of NTS infection between the cholecystectomy and cholecystectomy-free groups. Results Our study enrolled 197 444 patients who had undergone cholecystectomy and 394 888 patients who did not receive cholecystectomy. The adjusted HR (aHR) of NTS infection was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.13-1.58; P < .001) for the cholecystectomy group after adjusting for demographical characteristics and relevant comorbidities. The study population is predominantly female patients (55%) and older (58% older than 50 years). The subgroup analysis revealed that both sexes and notably, patients aged >50, who underwent cholecystectomy had a higher risk of NTS infection than the matched controls. Follow-up of patients who underwent cholecystectomy showed that they had a significantly higher risk of NTS infection for more than 6 months after the procedure. Conclusions Our study showed that cholecystectomy might be an independent risk factor for subsequent NTS infection.
