Science and Medicine : Gallstones in Women: A Matter of Weight

Overweight women are six times more likely to develop gallstones than women who are of normal weight, a study in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine found. While the association between obesity and gallstones has long been known, the new study shows a clear increase in risk for women who are even slightly overweight.

The study assessed the risk of getting gallstones in 88,837 women between the ages of 34 and 59 with no history of the condition.

According to Malcolm Maclure of the Harvard School of Public Health, the study found that a 5-foot, 6-inch woman who weighed more than 200 pounds was six times more likely to develop gallstones than a woman of the same height who weighed less than 125 pounds. But a 5-foot, 6-inch woman who weighed 150 to 155 pounds was still twice as likely to develop the stones than the thinner woman.

Gallstones form when cholesterol, combined with bile from the liver, crystallizes in the gallbladder or bile duct.