Adding another risk factor to its long list, investigators say obese children are at a higher risk of developing gallstone disease than their normal weighing peers.
Gallstones are small, stone-like deposits formed in the gallbladder. Symptoms include persistent abdominal pain and nausea.
The study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology found being obese doubling the child's risk of having gallstone disease.
While for moderately obese children, a four-fold risk was found, for severe obesity the risk increased to six times.
To examine the link between obesity and gallstones, the investigators included more than 510,000 children, between 10 and 19 years.
The risk was found more common among girls than boys. While obesity made girls at six or eight times higher risk of the disease, for boys, the risks were found to be double or triple.
The findings come at a time when more than 20 million adults are affected by the gallstone disease in the United States.
"Although gallstones are relatively common in obese adults, gallstones in children and adolescents have been historically rare," said study lead author Dr. Corinna Koebnick, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation, in a news release. "These findings add to an alarming trend-youth who are obese or extremely obese are more likely to have diseases we normally think of as adult conditions."
As gallstones are generally considered as an adult disease, these findings come as a surprise.
"The high rate of gallstones in obese children and adolescents may surprise pediatricians because gallstone disease is generally regarded as an adult disorder. Since obesity is so common, pediatricians must learn to recognize the characteristic symptoms of gallstones," said George Longstreth, senior study author.
Researchers expect their findings to help better diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
"With childhood obesity on the rise, pediatricians can expect to diagnose and treat an increasing number of children affected by gallstone disease. It is important to identify other factors that increase risk as well," Koebnick explained.
