Korean J Fam Pract. 2016; 6(6): 535-539  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2016.6.6.535
The Relationship between Gallbladder Polyps and Carotid Plaques in Healthy Adults
Ho-Hyun Lee1, Eun-Ki Kim1,*, Sang-Mo Jung1, Joo-Hwa Park1, Kyung-Moon Jung1, Jun Ko1, Hae-Won Seo1, Tae-Young Heo2, Bo-Mi Jeong2
1Department of Family Medicine, Hankook General Hospital; 2Department of Information and Statistics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
Eun-Ki Kim
Tel: +82-43-222-7000, Fax: +82-43-255-7007
E-mail: keunk7268@hanmail.net
Received: March 31, 2016; Revised: May 23, 2016; Accepted: June 24, 2016; Published online: December 20, 2016.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: We investigated the relationship between gallbladder polyps and carotid plaques. Both diseases are on the rise and share similar pathology and risk factors.
Methods: We collected data from 1,698 subjects who underwent both gallbladder ultrasound and carotid sonography. These patients presented at a Korean general hospital between January 2012 and June 2013 for health medical examination. We used statistical analysis to investigate the clinical and hematologic characteristics of this group of patients. We also used statistical analysis to investigate any dependence or relationship between gallbladder polyps and carotid plaques.
Results: Two hundred and thirteen patients had carotid plaques (12.54% prevalence) and 168 patients had gallbladder polyps (9.89% prevalence). Factors that had statistically significant associations with carotid plaques were fasting blood glucose, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and gallbladder polyps. There was a higher prevalence of carotid plaques among patients with fasting blood glucose levels above 126 mg/dL (odds ratio [OR] 3.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.73-5.78; P<0.001) and among patients with lower levels of high density lipoprotein (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93- 0.98; P=0.008). In addition, patients with gallbladder polyps had higher incidence of carotid plaques than those without gallbladder polyps (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.11-2.92; P=0.01).
Conclusion: There is a statistically significant association between gallbladder polyps and carotid plaques in adults with no symptoms.
Keywords: Gallbladder Polyps; Carotid Plaques; Fasting Blood Glucose; High Density Lipoprotein
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