Overview

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers surveyed 125 adults over 45 who were undergoing screening colonoscopies and then confirmed hemorrhoids endoscopically.
• Sixty-six percent reported using a smartphone on the toilet, and these participants had a 46% higher likelihood of hemorrhoids after adjustment for age, activity, diet, BMI and other factors.
• Phone users tended to sit longer, with 37% spending more than five minutes per visit compared with 7.1% of non-users.
• Straining was not linked to increased risk in this cohort, focusing attention on time spent seated as the plausible mechanism.
• The authors recommend leaving phones outside the bathroom and keeping toilet time brief, while noting the study’s limits and planning longitudinal and intervention research.