Gallstones Statistics
Although anyone may be a potential candidate for gallstones, the condition occurs more often in women than in men. In fact, among people between the ages of 20 and 60, women are three times more likely to develop
Gallstones than are men. However, by age 60 the statistics even out, and nearly 30 percent of all men and women have gallstones. The people most likely to develop
Gallstones are:
.Women who have been pregnant or who have used oral contraceptives or menopausal estrogen therapy;
.both men and women who are overweight;
.people over 60 years old; and
.people who go on "crash" diets or who lose a lot of weight quickly.
The highest incidence of
Gallstones in the United States occurs in people of Mexican-American and Native American descent. For example, in some American Indian tribes such as the Pima Indians of Arizona, 70 percent of women have gallstones by age 30. A majority of Native American men have gallstones by the time they reach 60.
American blacks of both sexes have the lowest incidence of gallstones; both male and female whites have a rate twice that of blacks.