Gallbladder Polyps With Metabolic Comorbidities Increase the Risk of Ischaemic Heart Disease in Korean Adults

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal effects of gallbladder (GB) polyps, as a surrogate metabolic indicator, on incident ischaemic heart disease (IHD). We also assessed the combined effects of GB polyps and comorbidities on the risk of developing IHD.Methods: We enrolled 19,612 participants from the health risk assessment study and Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. The control group without GB polyps consisted of 18,413 patients, and the GB polyp group comprised 1,119 patients. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for IHD according to the presence of GB polyps using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: The prevalence of newly developed IHD was 2.4% during an average follow-up period of 50 months. Individuals with GB polyps had an increased risk of IHD compared with the control group after adjusting for potential confounding variables (HR = 1.425; 95% CI, 1.028–1.975). Furthermore, the coexistence of hypertension or dyslipidaemia resulted in an increased risk (HR = 2.14, 95% CI, 1.34–3.44 or HR = 2.09, 95% CI, 1.32–3.31, respectively) of new-onset IHD in the GB polyp group. However, this cumulative effect was observed only in patients with impaired fasting blood glucose (HR=1.86, 95% CI, 1.06–3.26), but not in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: The presence of GB polyps was positively associated with increased risk of developing IHD and was independent of cardiovascular risk factors. In addition, GB polyps in patients with impaired fasting blood glucose increased the risk of IHD as those in the presence of the comorbidities hypertension or dyslipidaemia.