Association between conicity index and gallstone disease: A cross-sectional study from NHANES 2017-2020

The conicity index (C-index) is recognized for its association with various diseases. However, the relationship between C-index and gallstone disease (GSD) has not been explored. This study aims to investigate the potential relationship between C-index and GSD prevalence.

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning 2017 to 2020, we analyzed the association between C-index and GSD through survey-weighted multivariate logistic regression and restricted cubic spline regression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized to compare the predictive performance of C-index, body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

The study encompassed 3626 participants and revealed a significant positive relationship between C-index and GSD. In the fully adjusted model, each standard deviation increase in C-index was associated with 30 % rise in the odds of GSD prevalence (OR = 1.30; 95 % CI, 1.06 to 1.59; p = 0.036). The restricted cubic spline analysis found no significant nonlinear relationships between C-index and GSD (p-nonlinear = 0.213). C-index demonstrated superior predictive power for GSD when compared to WHR (p < 0.001), and was comparable to BMI (p = 0.483).

This research establishes a strong positive association between C-index and GSD prevalence, suggesting that C-index could serve as a valuable clinical marker for the early detection of gallstones.