Gallbladder Disease Epidemiology in Mexican Americans in Starr County, Texas

The prevalence of gallbladder disease (surgery or complaints) among Mexican Americans in Starr County, Texas, is demonstrated to be some threefold higher than in Framingham, with 13% and 26% of males and females, respectively, over the age of 35 years having the disease. The population aggregation of gallbladder disease in Amerindian groups and those genetically admixed with them (as the present case) is consistent with an underlying genetic mechanism which is further substantiated here by examining relative risks in sibs, offspring, and spouses of individuals with gallbladder disease. It is shown that in females under the age of 45 years, there is evidence for a significant association between gallbladder disease and diabetes beyond that which could be explained by body mass. Significant gallbladder disease by nonlinear age interaction effects was detected for serum cholesterol. The predicted regression lines of cholesterol by age were uniformly lower for individuals with gallbladder disease than those without it except for ages 40-55 years, in which the lines were equal. When coupled with previous results on diabetes, the results presented document the extent to which diabetes and gallbladder disease dominate the health status of Mexican Americans in southern Texas and likely elsewhere.