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. 2025 Sep 26;25:666. doi: 10.1186/s12876-025-04230-1

Table 3.

Association between water hardness and prevalent IBD in the cross-sectional study

IBD
Cases Model 1 OR (95% CI) P Model 2 OR (95% CI) P Model 3 OR (95% CI) P
Water hardness (USGS, mg/l) 0–60 704 ref ref ref
60–120 353 0.92 (0.86–0.99) 0.030 0.93 (0.86–1.00) 0.051 0.94 (0.87–1.01) 0.076
120–180 110 0.95 (0.85–1.07) 0.419 0.97 (0.87–1.09) 0.637 0.97 (0.87–1.09) 0.624
> 180 656 0.84 (0.79–0.89)  < 0.001 0.86 (0.81–0.91) < 0.001 0.86 (0.81–0.92) < 0.001
P for trend  < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001
Water hardness (WHO, mg/l) < 200 1181 ref ref ref
≥ 200 642 0.86 (0.81–0.91)  < 0.001 0.88 (0.83–0.93) < 0.001 0.88 (0.83–0.93) < 0.001
CaCO3 concentration (per SD) 0.92 (0.90–0.95)  < 0.001 0.93 (0.91–0.96) < 0.001 0.93 (0.91–0.96) < 0.001
Ca concentration (per SD) 0.93 (0.90–0.95)  < 0.001 0.94 (0.91–0.97) < 0.001 0.94 (0.91–0.97) < 0.001
Mg concentration (per SD) 0.99 (0.96–1.02) 0.534 0.99 (0.97–1.02) 0.639 1.00 (0.97–1.02) 0.830

Abbreviations: USGS United States Geological Survey, WHO World Health Organization, OR odds ratio, P p-values

Model 1: adjusted for age and sex

Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, CCI scores, BMI, IPAQ physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, ethnicity, TDI and diet quality scores

Model 3: adjusted for age, sex, CCI scores, BMI, IPAQ physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, ethnicity, TDI, diet quality scores, the first five principal components of ancestry genetics

Bold font for USGS and WHO water hardness groups indicates p < 0.025, while bold font for other variables indicates p < 0.05