Cholelithiasis and teenage mothers

Between 1980 and 1988, 23 female adolescents were hospitalized at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center for symptomatic cholelithiasis. The known risk factors for gallstone formation in adolescents were considered. In ten of the patients (43%), none of the risk factors was present. All ten patients, however, had in common a recent history of pregnancy. This finding is consistent with the current literature on the possible mechanism of gallstone formation during pregnancy.