United States benign gallbladder disease mortality, 1999-2024: rising cholecystitis and persistent demographic and
Shuai Wang1, Quanhuan Cui2, Jingbo Lv3
1Department of Gastric and Colorectal Surgery, General Surgery Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Background:
Mortality patterns of benign gallbladder diseases in the USA remain poorly characterized, particularly across disease subtypes and demographic and geographic groups.
Methods:
We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER) Underlying Cause of Death database to identify deaths from benign gallbladder diseases from 1999 to 2024. Eligible deaths were defined by ICD-10 codes K80-K82, including cholelithiasis, cholecystitis, and other diseases of the gallbladder. Age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) were standardized to the 2000 U.S.
Population:
Joinpoint regression estimated annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) overall and by subgroup.
Results:
From 1999 to 2024, 90,910 deaths were attributed to benign gallbladder diseases. Annual deaths increased from 2801 to 4516, while the overall AAMR remained 2.01 per 100,000 in both 1999 and 2024 (AAPC, 0.13%; 95% CI - 0.30 to 0.55). AAMR declined from 1999 to 2018 and then increased from 2018 to 2024. Cholecystitis accounted for 56,384 deaths and increased from 1.00 to 1.39 per 100,000 (AAPC, 1.35%; 95% CI 1.12-1.59), whereas AAMRs declined for cholelithiasis and other gallbladder diseases. Male AAMR exceeded female AAMR throughout the study period, and mortality was highest among adults aged 85 years or older. In 2024, AAMRs were similar among Non-Hispanic (NH) White, Hispanic, and NH Black individuals, but lower among NH other individuals. In urbanization analyses available through 2020, nonmetropolitan areas consistently had higher AAMRs than metropolitan areas.
Conclusions:
U.S. mortality from benign gallbladder diseases remained broadly stable after age adjustment, despite rising absolute deaths. The main adverse trend was the sustained increase in cholecystitis mortality. These findings support further study of acute care pathways, comorbidity burden, and access to timely surgical management, while causal mechanisms require validation in clinical datasets.
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