Clinical Gallbladder Disease in Pima Indians

Abstract

THERE is much clinical evidence that various American Indian tribes have a high prevalence of gallbladder disease. Sievers and Marquis,¹ reporting on southwestern Indians (Pima, Papago, Hopi, Apache and Navajo), and Lam,² on plains Indians (Sioux and Chippewa), each found cholecystectomy to be the most commonly performed surgical procedure. Hesse,³ in a report on the Pima Indians of southern Arizona, found 2.3 hospital admissions per 100 persons per year for gallbladder disease. Salsbury⁴ and Gilbert⁵ each stated that biliary-tract disease was common among the Navajo Indians at their respective hospitals.On the basis of these observations, our present study was . . .