The following is a summary of “Personality differences in patients with and without gallstones,” published in the June 2023 issue of the Psychosomatic Research by Jukić et al.

Gallstones are associated with various risk factors previously linked to personality traits. Researcher aimed to identify personality differences between patients with and without gallstones. This case-control investigation included 308 participants from the general population, 68.2% female, mean age 49.2 (SD 9.24) years, and 154 (50%) participants with asymptomatic gallstones. The Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised – 140 (TCI-R-140) and the Center for Epidemiological Study of Depression Scale (CESsingle bond) were used to assess personality and depression, respectively. As an exclusion criterion, a CES-D cutoff of 16 was used. 

The subjects were also evaluated for sociodemographic and metabolic risk factors. Compared to the group without gallstones, the group with gallstones had substantially more pronounced metabolic risk factors and a higher prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption. This group also demonstrated a higher Harm avoidance (HA) temperament dimension and a lower Self-directedness (SD) character dimension. Within the gallstones group, metabolic variables varied based on the personality dimension of Cooperativeness (CO), smoking based on the personality dimensions of Novelty seeking (NS) and Ha, and alcohol consumption based on extent NS. 

In a logistic regression that controlled for smoking, alcohol consumption, and metabolic variables, temperament dimension HA was identified as a significant predictor of gallstone presence. According to our findings, personality may be associated with the presence of gallstones. Future longitudinal studies must examine the intricate interaction between personality traits, psychological mechanisms, and the associated behavioral, metabolic, and neurobiological factors.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022399923001794