The Comparison of serum vitamin D levels in patients with and without gallstone

Abstract

Background: The current lifestyle and epidemiological studies have definitively identified gallstone disease (GD) as a complex, metabolic disease prone to gene-environment interactions for development, but its relationship with vitamin D deficiency still remains unexplained.

Objective: We aimed to explore the associations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels with gallstone disease and correlated metabolic indexes in this cross-sectional study.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional, case-control design that was carried out between May 2023 and April 2024 in a tertiary care hospital. One hundred and sixty subjects (age group: 25-65 years) participated. One group was constituted of 80 newly diagnosed cholelithiasis patients, which was confirmed by ultrasound as Group A, and the other consisted of healthy control subjects. 80 cases, not previously known as cases of biliary or gallbladder diseases (group B), were explored for their vitamin D status. Demographic, medical history, and lifestyle data to account for age- and sex-matched participants were collected using a standardized questionnaire.

Results: The BMI, triglyceride, and total cholesterol levels were significantly higher in cases with gallstones compared to controls (p < 0.001). Vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients with gallstones than in the control group. In contrast, a marked negative correlation between serum 25(OH)D levels and BMI, triglycerides, and total cholesterol was observed.

Conclusion: Low vitamin D levels and lower values of serum vitamin D were associated significantly with increased risk for gallstone disease and unfavorable metabolic syndrome profiles and may have a role in etiopathogenesis.