Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Gallstone disease is a leading cause of gastrointestinal illness in western countries, including the United States. A new study says patients taking statins for other health problems may also lower their risk of developing gallstone disease.
Each year, 700,000 Americans have their gallbladders removed due to gallstone disease. This new study shows that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may decrease the risk of the disease and surgery which follows.
Dr. Michael Bodmer, of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues, compared patients who had their gallbladders removed, those who did not, and the proportions in each group taking statins to treat other illnesses. The study, featured this week in Jama,
Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at data from the United Kingdom over 14 years.
"And what we find in these comparison between these two groups is that patients who use statins were less likely to have the gallbladder removed than patients who did not use the statins," said Dr. Bodmer.
Researchers also studied how long a patient needed to take statins before this risk was reduced.
"What we found is: you have to take one or one and a half years of statin therapy to have an association with a lower risk of gallbladder disease followed by gallbladder removal," said Dr. Bodmer.
The study also found that obese patients and patients using estrogen had an increased risk for gallstones and surgery.
