Is gallstone disease associated with inflammatory bowel diseases? A meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of digestive diseases Vol. 16; no. 11; pp. 634 - 641
• Main Authors: Zhang, Fen Ming, Xu, Cheng Fu, Shan, Guo Dong, Chen, Hong Tan, Xu, Guo Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Confidence intervals; Crohn disease; Crohn Disease - complications; Crohn Disease - epidemiology; gallstones; Gallstones - epidemiology; Gallstones - etiology; Humans; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - complications; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - epidemiology; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Publication Bias; Sensitivity and Specificity; ulcerative colitis; meta-analysis; Crohn disease; ulcerative colitis; gallstones; inflammatory bowel disease
• DOI: 10.1111/1751-2980.12286
• ISSN: 1751-2972

Objective To investigate the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and gallstone disease (GD) by performing a meta‐analysis. Methods PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant articles published between January 1980 and February 2015. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA 12.0. A fixed‐effects model was adopted; heterogeneity was evaluated by χ2 test and I2 statistic; publication bias was assessed by Begg's and Egger's tests. Results Five studies qualified for inclusion in the meta‐analysis. Patients with IBD had a significantly higher prevalence of GD than those in the control group [odds ratio (OR) 1.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.40–2.12, P < 0.0001]. Subgroup analyses showed a significantly higher prevalence of GD in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.61–2.63, P < 0.0001). However, no significant difference in the prevalence of GD was observed between patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and controls (OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.75–1.68, P = 0.585). Studies from Italy, Sweden and the UK revealed a higher prevalence of GD in patients with IBD. No heterogeneity (I2 = 25.2%, P = 0.228) or publication bias was observed in our meta‐analysis (Begg's test, P = 0.711; Egger's test, P = 0.805). Conclusions Our meta‐analysis suggests there is a trend towards higher prevalence of GD in IBD patients, and especially in patients with CD. More rigorous, large‐scale multi‐center studies are required to investigate the association between GD and IBD.