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Gallbladder and gastric motility in obese newborns, pre-adolescents and adults

Agostino Di Ciaula1, David Q-H Wang, Piero Portincasa

  • 1Division of Internal Medicine, Hospital of Bisceglie, Bisceglie (BAT), Italy.

Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
|April 14, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Obesity is linked to abnormal gallbladder and gastric motility, starting in pre-adolescence and worsening in adulthood, but not in newborns. Functional ultrasonography can detect these early motility changes.

Area of Science:

  • Gastroenterology
  • Pediatrics
  • Metabolic Disorders

Background:

  • Obesity is linked to impaired gallbladder and gastric motility in adults.
  • The exact timing of when this dysfunction appears is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the age-related appearance of gallbladder and gastric motility dysfunction in obesity.
  • To assess if obesity affects motility in newborns, pre-adolescents, and adults.

Main Methods:

  • Noninvasive functional ultrasonography was used to assess gallbladder and gastric motility.
  • Studies included 50 newborns, 18 pre-adolescents, and 99 adults, categorized as lean or obese.
  • Motility was evaluated in fasting and postprandial states following milk or a test meal.

Main Results:

  • Obese newborns showed no differences in motility compared to lean newborns.
  • Obese pre-adolescents exhibited larger fasting gallbladder volume and slower gastric emptying than lean counterparts.
  • Obese adults displayed the most significant dysfunction, with larger residual gallbladder volumes and slower gastric emptying.

Conclusions:

  • Abnormal gallbladder and gastric motility patterns in obesity emerge in pre-adolescents and worsen with age.
  • These motility abnormalities are absent in obese newborns.
  • Functional ultrasonography is effective in detecting early stages of altered cholecysto-gastric motility, likely due to fat accumulation and insulin resistance.
Abstract

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