Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics and possible additional risk factors for cholecystitis in patients who applied to a pediatric surgery clinic with symptomatic cholelithiasis and underwent cholecystectomy. Patients and methods: The retrospective study included 28 pediatric patients (8 males, 20 females; mean age: 15.4±2.4 years; range, 13 to 17 years) who underwent cholecystectomy due to symptomatic cholelithiasis between March 2020 and March 2025. Demographic characteristics, body mass index (BMI), family/personal history, clinical data (symptoms at diagnosis), laboratory tests (hemolytic screening, inflammatory markers, and liver function tests), imaging results, and pathology records of the patients were reviewed. Results: The mean BMI was 25.7±5.09 kg/m 2 (range, 18.9 to 37.0 kg/m 2 ), with BMI >25 kg/m2 in 19 (67.8%) patients. No hematological disease was detected in any of the patients. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed in all patients. Histopathological examination of the specimens taken from the patients revealed chronic cholecystitis and cholesterol stones in the gallbladder lumen of all patients. Conclusion: The present study indicated that obesity and the female sex may be risk factors for cholelithiasis in children. Future studies are needed on this subject.
Sağ et al. (Fri,) studied this question.