Prevalence and epidemiological pattern of gallstones in urban residents in China.

Gallstone disease is a common digestive disorder that mainly occurs in Western countries [1]. The prevalence of gallstones seems to be as high as 70% in Pima Indians and 10–20% in North American and European countries [1,2]. In China, there was no available data on the nationwide prevalence of gallstone disease. To investigate the true epidemiological characteristics of gallstones better, a cooperative cross-sectional study was conducted by the Chinese Society of Health Management between January and December 2008.