Yes, Women Get Hernias, Too
Men may account for 90% of cases of the most common type of hernia — inguinal hernia — but that still leaves some women dealing with them. And, yes, women get other types of hernias, too, which we review here.
Is There a Connection Between Gallbladder Health and Your Heart?
Your gallbladder can already make life more complicated and uncomfortable, and you’re wondering whether there’s more that you need to worry about in terms of health complications.
Well, for the more than 20 million US adults with gallbladder disease, largely in the form of gallstones, there is a possible connection to your heart health — and not a good one. More specifically, researchers are starting to uncover connections between gallbladder disease and coronary artery disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States.
To explain this link, we turn to the team of highly experienced general surgeons at Rockwall Surgical Specialists who are experts in gallbladder disease and gallbladder surgery.
Behind gallbladder disease
Your gallbladder’s role is digestive — this small organ stores and releases bile produced by your liver to aid in breaking down dietary fats in your intestines. Bile also helps your body absorb certain vitamins and nutrients.
When we talk about gallbladder disease, we’re largely referring to gallstones, which are hardened deposits of bile. These deposits most often show up as cholesterol stones, pigment stones, or mixed stones and are the result of:
- Too much cholesterol for the bile to process
- Too much bilirubin, which causes pigment stones
- Not enough bile salts
- Poor gallbladder function
The reality is that the number of 20 million Americans with gallbladder disease is an educated guess because many people have gallstones and are unaware of their existence. In fact, only about 20% of people with gallstones need treatment, which is called for when the stones create a blockage.
Shared risk factors between gallstones and heart disease
It’s been challenging to make any definitive and direct connections between gallbladder disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD) because there’s a good deal of crossover between risk factors. For example, the primary risk factors for coronary artery disease and gallbladder disease include:
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Metabolic syndrome
The odds of a person having both CVD and gallbladder disease are higher simply because they share the same risk factors. In other words, if you have obesity, your chances for developing gallbladder disease and cardiovascular disease are higher, but they might exist independently of one another.
The direct link between gallbladder disease and your cardiovascular health
Given the hurdle of shared risk factors, researchers have conducted many studies and analyses to determine whether there’s a cause-and-effect that directly links the two conditions. Here’s what they found.
In a study that reviewed 270,000 men and women over 30 years, researchers report that incidence rates of coronary artery disease among people with gallbladder disease was twice that of those who didn’t have gallbladder disease. Again, some of this can be attributed to crossover risk factors and coincidence, but large numbers like this do point to a connection.
Taking a different approach, another study analyzed cardiovascular risk after gallbladder surgery (a cholecystectomy). They found that “Cholecystectomized patients showed increased CVD risk compared with healthy controls without gallstones, but decreased CVD risk compared with gallstone patients.”
This study is interesting because removing the problem — a diseased gallbladder — reduced the risks for CVD compared to those who don’t have gallbladder surgery.
What this implies is that if you have symptomatic gallbladder disease, having one of our surgeons remove your gallbladder not only resolves the digestive disease, but can also reduce your risks for CVD, including coronary artery disease.
There will certainly be more revealing research down the road, but we believe that there are connections between your gallbladder health and your heart health. Taking action on both sides of that equation is a good idea, and we’re here to help with the gallbladder issues.
If you have more questions about gallbladder disease or gallbladder surgery, please don’t hesitate to call the Rockwall Surgical Specialists team at 972-412-7700. You can also use our online form to set up an appointment in Rockwall, Rowlett, Greenville, Terrell, or Forney, Texas.
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