The Relationship between Gallstone Formation and Diabetes Mellitus

Gallstone is one of the most common diseases in the human society. Risk factors for stone formation are age, race, female sex, underlying disease, obesity and smoking. Some studies have mentioned probable relationship between gallstones and diabetes. Because of the high prevalence of diabetes in our country, it was decided to assess the relationship between gallstone formation and diabetes mellitus. This analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on all of the hospitalized patients in Kashan in 1993 who had undergone a gall bladder ultrasonography. The cases were those patients whose sonography showed the gallstone(63 patients), and those who did not have any stones, were categorized in the control group(501 patients). In all of the patients age, sex, gallstone, diabetes history and the duration of diabetes(if any), were assessed. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 10.05 software, using Chi-squared test, t-test and the correlation coefficients. The mean age in the case group was 61.98(58-65.97) and in the control group 51.59(49.64-53.50) years old(P<0.001). Of 564 patients, 4.9% had diabetes out of whom 22%(14 patients) were in the case and 7%(39 patients) were in the control group. In 63 patients(11.2%), gallstone was diagnosed with sonography. Sex ratio and duration of having diabetes was the same in both case and control groups. There was a significant relationship between diabetes and gallstone(P<0.001, r=0.156). In this study and other similar ones, diabetes was an effective factor in forming gallstones. Matching for sex, duration of diabetes, age, BMI, LDL, HDL and family history all showed this relationship as well. Although there is a difference in the ratio of patients with gallstones and diabetes in various studies, there is an evidence of relationship between diabetes and gallstone in all of them. The probable mechanisms of stone formation in diabetic patients are: diabetic neuropathy, gall bladder motility defect and the increasing volume of gall bladder in diabetic patients.