Gallbladder Gallstone Disease Is Associated with Newly Diagnosed Coronary Artery Atherosclerotic Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The association between gallstone disease and coronary artery atherosclerotic disease (CAD) remains unclear. To clarify their relationship, patients with CAD newly diagnosed by coronary angiography were investigated in this cross-sectional study. METHODS: The study cohort consisted of 1,270 patients undergoing coronary angiography for the first time between January 2007 and September 2011. Patients with ≥50% diameter stenosis in any major coronary artery on coronary angiography were defined as being CAD positive (n = 766) and those with no stenosis as CAD negative (n = 504). Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the relationship between gallstone disease and CAD. The odds ratios (OR) of factors associated with CAD were calculated. In addition, CAD-positive and CAD-negative patients were matched one-to-one by age, gender and metabolic syndrome (MetS), and the association between gallbladder disease and CAD was determined. RESULTS: The prevalence of gallstone disease was significantly higher in CAD-positive than in CAD negative patients (149/766 [19.5%] vs 57/504 [11.3%], P<0.01). Gallstone disease was significantly associated with CAD (adjusted OR = 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10–2.31). Following matched pairing of 320 patients per group, gallstone disease remained significantly associated with CAD (adjusted OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.08–2.65). CONCLUSION: Gallstone disease is strongly associated with CAD diagnosed by coronary angiography.