title: Epidemiological Characteristics of Gallbladder Cancer in Jeju Island: A Single-Center, Clinically Based, Age-Sex-Matched, Case-Control Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a rare but highly invasive malignancy characterized by poor survival. In a national cancer survey, the age-standardized incidence rate of GBC was highest in Jeju Island among the 15 provinces in South Korea. The aim of this descriptive epidemiological study was to suggest the modifiable risk factors for this rare malignant disease in Jeju Island by performing an age-sex-matched case- control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The case group included patients diagnosed with GBC at the Department of Internal Medicine of Cheju Halla General Hospital, Jeju, South Korea, within the 5-year study period. The control group consisted of age-sex-matched subjects selected from among the participants of the health promotion center at the same institute and in the same period. We compared 78 case-control pairs in terms of clinical variables such as histories of hypertension, diabetes, vascular occlusive disorders, alcohol and smoking consumption, obesity, and combined polypoid lesions of the gallbladder (PLG) or gallstone diseases (GSDs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the relevant risk factors, alcohol consumption, parity ≥ 2, PLG, and GSDs were significant risk factors in the univariate analysis. PLG (p < 0.01; OR, 51.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.98-875.3) and GSD (p < 0.01; OR, 54.9; 95% CI, 3.00-1001.8) were associated risk factors of GBC in the multivariate analysis with the conditional logistic regression model. However, we failed to find any correlation between obesity and GBC. We also found a negative correlation between alcohol consumption history and GBC in the multivariate analysis (p < 0.01; OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01-0.31).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that combined PLG and GSDs are strongly associated with the GBC in Jeju Island and mild to moderate alcohol consumption may negatively correlate with GBC risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Division of Medicine, Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE; Digestive Disease Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Cheju Halla General Hospital, Jeju, Korea E-mail : drhyo@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Byung Hyo
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Cha
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors