title: Cholecystectomy and the incidence of cancer of the large bowel.
abstract: As part of an epidemiologic study of cancer of the large bowel in women, female residents of King and Pierce counties (Washington) who were diagnosed during 1976--77 were interviewed regarding previous gallbladder surgery. Their responses were compared with those of a random sample of women from the same population. A history of cholecystectomy was somewhat more frequent among patients with colon cancer than among controls--we estimate the colon cancer risk in women without a gallbladder to be 1.4 times that of other women--but the 05% confidence limits of the relative risk included 1.0 (0.8--2.5). There was no association between cholecystectomy and rectal cancer and, among the subsites of colon cancer, the magnitude of the excess risk failed to show any consistent right--left gradient. Nonepidemiologic data suggest that cholecystectomy could increase the risk of colon cancer. However, if such an association truly exists it is not a strong one, and studies larger than those conducted to date are needed to detect this association reliably.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight; D002763:Cholecystectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008598:Menstruation; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D012306:Risk; D014861:Washington