Visceral Obesity Is Associated with Gallbladder Polyps

Gallbladder polyps (GBP) are a common clinical finding and may possess malignant potential. We conducted this study to determine whether visceral obesity is a risk factor for GBP.

We retrospectively reviewed records of subjects who received both ultrasonography and computed tomography with measurements of the areas of visceral adipose tissue and total adipose tissue (TAT) on the same day as health checkups.

Ninety-three of 1,615 subjects (5.8%) had GBP and were compared with 186 age- and sex-matched controls. VAT (odds ratio [OR], 2.941; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.325 to 6.529; p=0.008 for the highest quartile vs. the lowest quartile) and TAT (OR, 3.568; 95% CI, 1.625 to 7.833; p=0.002 for the highest quartile vs. the lowest quartile) were independent risk factors together with hypertension (OR, 2.512; 95% CI, 1.381 to 4.569; p=0.003), diabetes mellitus (OR, 2.942; 95% CI, 1.061 to 8.158; p=0.038), hepatitis B virus positivity (OR, 3.548; 95% CI, 1.295 to 9.716; p=0.014), and a higher level of total cholesterol (OR, 2.232; 95% CI, 1.043 to 4.778; p=0.039 for.

Visceral obesity measured by VAT and TAT was associated with GBP irrespective of body mass index or waist circumference.