Introduction:

Gallstones are considered infrequent in childhood; however, 50% of young adults with gallbladder disease had their first symptoms during this period. There are few studies in the pediatric population about this pathology in Paraguay.

Objectives:

To determine the prevalent symptoms and the presence of predisposing factors in children and adolescents with gallstones at a referral hospital.

Materials and methods:

it is a cross-sectional, retrospective, descriptive, observational study; based on clinical records of patients hospitalized between January 2014 and January 2019, non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases of patients who meet the inclusion criteria.

Results:

58 patients with the diagnosis of gallstones were found, of which 3 (5.2%) were preschool children, 9 (15.5%) children and 46 (79.3%) adolescents. There was a predominance of females 67.2% (39/58) over males 33% (19/58). As for clinical manifestations, 57 patients (98%) reported abdominal pain, 30 (51%) vomiting and a lesser extent coursed with jaundice, dark urine or hypocolia. Regarding the nutritional profile, 1 patient (8,6%) presented malnutrition and 29 (50%) were overweight or obese. In relation to height, 5 (8.6%) were short stature. Only 4 patients (6.8%) had a family history of gallstones. None of them had complications or were associated to parenteral nutrition. 2 patients had received broad spectrum antibiotics.

Conclusion:

Gallstones occurred mainly in female adolescents. In most cases was idiopathic and, abdominal pain was the most frequent symptom.

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