Obese Kids are More Prone to Gallstones: Study

A new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition claims that children and adolescents who are obese or overweight were more prone to gallstones when compared to other healthy children. Gallstones generally occur more frequently in older people.

To proceed with the finding, researchers based their study on electronic health records of more than 510,000 children between the ages 10 to 19, from 2007 through 2009. The children were members of the Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. The variety of children participating in the study helped researchers investigate racial and ethnic disparities.

Monitoring the children carefully, researchers noticed that Hispanic children were more likely to suffer from gallstones when compared to children of other races. Children who were moderately obese were four times more likely to be prone to gallstones, while extremely obese children were six times more prone to it.

"Although gallstones are relatively common in obese adults, gallstones in children and adolescents have been historically rare," said study lead author Corinna Koebnick, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. "These findings add to an alarming trend - youth who are obese or extremely obese are more likely to have diseases we normally think of as adult conditions."

Researchers also noticed a strong association between obesity and gallstones in girls. Obese girls were found to be six to eight times more prone to gallstones when compared to obese boys, who were two to three times less likely to have gallstones.

"The high rate of gallstones in obese children and adolescents may surprise pediatricians because gallstone disease is generally regarded as an adult disorder. Since obesity is so common, pediatricians must learn to recognize the characteristic symptoms of gallstones," said George Longstreth, M.D., senior study author and a gastroenterologist from the Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center.

"With increasing numbers of cases of gallstones in children, we wanted to better understand the potential role of risk factors such as obesity, gender, ethnicity, and oral contraceptive use," added Koebnick. "With childhood obesity on the rise, pediatricians can expect to diagnose and treat an increasing number of children affected by gallstone disease. It is important to identify other factors that increase risk as well."

According to the research, gallstones affect nearly 20 million adults in the United States. Its presence is detected with abdominal pain and nausea. Gallstones can block the passage of bile into the intestine, which in turn causes severe damage to the gallbladder, liver or pancreas.

BBC quoted National Obesity Forum chairman professor David Haslam as saying that the fact gallstones were being seen in obese teenagers was not surprising - but that it was worrying.

"We know there is a link between the condition and obesity. But yet again we are seeing an adult illness in young people - because of obesity. We have already seen Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Now it's gallstones. And because these conditions are coming earlier, deaths will come earlier," he said.