Prevalence of Cholelithiasis Among Nigerians: A Prospective Sonographic Study In A Tertiary Center In Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria

Gallstone is a common and major biliary disease of modern society and is thought to be rare among Asians and the Black population. However, this narrative may also be changing with the increasing westernization of the African diet and changing lifestyle. We aimed to evaluate the sonographic prevalence of gallstones in Sokoto, North-west Nigeria. This was a descriptive, prospective study. Socio-demographic, clinical and sonographic data of all consenting patients presenting to the radiology department of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) Sokoto for an abdominal ultrasound between April 2024 and September 2024 were prospectively collected using a structured proforma. Statistical significance was set at a p-value of <0.05. There were 1456 who met the inclusion criteria and thus participated in the study. The majority (sixty-nine per cent) were females, the mean age was 38.3±15.0 years, and forty-nine per cent were above 40 years. The majority had a normal body mass index (BMI). The number of patients with cholelithiasis was 52, giving a prevalence of 3.57%. Prevalence among females, 4.5%, was significantly higher than that among males, 1.6% (p=0.001). Likewise, prevalence was significantly higher among overweight (6.5%) and obese (8.2%) patients than in standard (1.6%) and underweight patients (0.9%). The prevalence was observed to rise with increasing age, higher in diabetic patients and those with a family history of gallstones; however, these observed differences were not statistically significant. Cholelithiasis remains a relatively uncommon condition in our setting. Female gender and obesity significantly increased the odds of developing cholelithiasis.