A Review of the Management of Cholelithiasis at Buraydah Central Hospital in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Cholelithiasis is the most common cause of gastroenterological hospitalization. Given this significant risk, perfectly managing cholelithiasis is crucial to reduce hospitalization. Unfortunately, we have not found a study on a review of the management of cholelithiasis in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, we aim to evaluate cholelithiasis concerning demographic features, presentation symptoms, predisposing risk factors, laboratory features, complications, and outcomes in the Qassim region. This cross-sectional study of all patients with a radiological diagnosis of gallstones, whether symptomatic or not, was diagnostic in 2022. The researchers fielded a preformed data collection sheet for each patient from the hospital system. Data obtained were entered into a spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 23.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2015. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). A total of 526 patients were included in the study. Most patients (116, 22.1%), were aged 38-42. The finding also indicated that most patients were females (397, 75.5%), while males were only 129 (24.5%). The study also found that the difference between women and men presenting complaints of fat intolerance and right shoulder pain was statistically significant. Women were 100 (84%) and men were 19 (16%) for fat intolerance, while for right shoulder pain, women were 50 (89.3%) and men were six (10.7%). The p-values were 0.014 and 0.011, respectively. Further, there was a statistically significant difference in terms of the complaints presented by the patients between the complicated and non-complicated cases of abdominal pain (p=0.001), nausea (p=0.001), vomiting (p=0.001), change in urine and stool color (p=0.001), and right shoulder pain (p=0.001), among other complaints (p=0.001). The study concludes that most patients affected by cholelithiasis are individuals in the middle age group, with women being more affected by the disease than men. Further, among the individuals affected by the disease, the majority of them were overweight and obese. On the other hand, the study concludes that the majority of patients who suffer more from cholelithiasis are affected mainly by other associated diseases such as hypertension, hypothyroidism, and diabetes mellitus. In conclusion, many factors may contribute to gallstone formation and the outcome of the disease and surgery. Therefore, the study recommends that health workers offer tailored education, especially targeting the highlighted factors found in this study, to create awareness of disease control measures in the general population. Also, keep in mind these factors when dealing with patients who complain of abdominal pain.