Primary study on inheritant characteristics in cholelithiasis pedigrees

Objective:To explore the inheritant characteristics of pedigrees with cholelithiasis.Methods:The pedigrees with cholelithiasis in Shanghai were studied,each containing at least two patients with gallstones in gallbladder examined by B type ultrasonograghy. Medical history and related information were recorded. The inheritant characteristics were discussed by pedigrees analysis.Results:There were 93 gallstone pedigrees,including 239 patients with gallstones and 563 without gallstones. The prevalence of gallstones was 54.0%. It was higher in female(61.0%) than in male(44.3%)(P=0.003). Sixty four pedigrees contained 3 patients or more. There was at least one parent with gallstone in 74.2% of pedigrees. The prevalence was 58.0% in brother and sister of proband and all the twins were gallstone patients. The prevalence of filial generation with gallstone was 59.0% when the proband was more than 60 years old. There was 36.6% of the pedigrees with hyperlipidemia history,66.7% with hypertension history and 29.0% with diabetes history. The incidence in the second generation is quite high in both son and daughter. Inheritant factor had more effective in male and there was higher prevalence in pedigrees with mothers with gallstones than in those with fathers with gallstones.Conclusion:Cholelithiasis is regarded as a polygenetic disease with obvious familial aggregation and some characteristics of autosomal dominant inheritance and associated with metabolic polygenetic disease.