Aging and gallstone disease

Epidemiology of Gallstone Disease in an Older Italian Population in Montegrotto Terme, Padua

“…Furthermore, Mok and colleagues 38 showed that the growth rate of stones is about 1 to 4 mm per year. Indeed, comparing a number of characteristics of both gallbladder and gallstones in an adult and an older adult group of asymptomatic gallstone carriers, we found that large stones (with a diameter > 1.5 cm) were twice as frequent in the older adult group 9 . These findings suggest that in older patients, GD is a longstanding disease and presents different characteristics from the adult ones.…”

“…G allstone disease (GD), which includes the presence of stones in the gallbladder and cholecystectomy, has a higher prevalence in females than in males 1–8 . Prevalence increases with age, 7–9 and environmental factors seem to be of etiological importance 10 . Most estimates of the prevalence of GD have been obtained from autopsy studies 1–4 and from clinical series 5,6 .…”