Loading...
The prevalence of pediatric cholelithiasis in 1959 was 0.15%, and current estimates range from 1.9% to 4.0%. The rise in prevalence temporally correlates with the rise in childhood obesity. In a retrospective, cross-sectional study of patients aged ≤18 years who underwent cholecystectomies at a Texas Children's hospital between 2005 and 2008, investigators assessed the clinical characteristics and risk factors for symptomatic pediatric gallbladder disease and cholecystectomy.
Of 404 patients (age range, 7 months to 18 years), 73% were female, 39% were Hispanic, and 35% were white. Overall, 19% of patients had hemolytic disease. Primary indications for cholecystectomy in patients ≥3 years included symptomatic cholelithiasis (53%), complicated…