Abstract
IntroductionGallstone disease (GSD) and its complications are major public health issues globally. Although many community-based studies had addressed the risk factors for GSD, little is known about GSD prevalence and risk factors among Taiwanese vegetarians.MethodsThis study included 1721 vegetarians who completed a questionnaire detailing their demographics, medical history, and life-styles. GSD was ascertained by ultrasonography or surgical history of cholecystectomy for GSD. The predictive probability of GSD for male and female vegetarians was estimated from the fitted model.ResultsThe prevalence of GSD was 8.2% for both male and female vegetarians. The risk of GSD is similar in men and women across all age groups, and increases steadily with increasing age. For male vegetarians, age (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00–1.08) and serum total bilirubin level (OR: 2.35; 95% CI: 1.31–4.22) predict risk for GSD. For female vegetarians, age (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01–1.05), BMI (OR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01–1.13), and alcohol consumption (OR: 7.85; 95% CI: 1.83–33.73) are associated with GSD. GSD is not associated with type of vegetarian diet, duration of vegetarianism, low education level, physical inactivity, diabetes, coronary artery disease, cerebral vascular accident, chronic renal failure, hepatitis C virus infection, and lipid abnormalities. GSD is also not associated with age at menarche, postmenopausal status, and multiparity in female vegetarians.ConclusionsRisk factors useful for predicting GSD in vegetarians are (1) age and total bilirubin level in men, and (2) age, BMI, and alcohol consumption in women. Many previously identified risk factors for general population does not seem to apply to Taiwanese vegetarians.
Highlights
Gallstone disease (GSD) and its complications are major public health issues globally
GSD is not associated with type of vegetarian diet, duration of vegetarianism, low education level, physical inactivity, diabetes, coronary artery disease, cerebral vascular accident, chronic renal failure, hepatitis C virus infection, and lipid abnormalities
A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the independent influence of potential risk factors – age, body mass index (BMI), education level, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, types of vegetarians, duration of vegetarianism, menarche .16 years, multiparity, postmenopausal status, diabetes, HTN, coronary artery disease (CAD), cerebral vascular accident (CVA), chronic renal failure (CRF), hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection, hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection, total cholesterol (TCH), TG, LDL-C, HDL-C and total bilirubin level (TBL) – on GSD
Summary
The burden of gallstone disease (GSD) and its complications, such as cholecystitis, pancreatitis, and cholangitis, are major public health issues globally [1]. Previous studies have identified age, female gender, family history of gallstone, pregnancy, diabetes, and obesity as risk factors for GSD [11, 13,14,15]. One study reported an odds ratio of 1.9 for the development of GSD among nonvegetarians compared with vegetarians after adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI) in women [16]. A third study with small sample size showed no significant difference in the prevalence of GSD between nonvegetarians and vegetarians [11].
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