- Across Europe, studies have shown that gallstones affect between 6-22% of the population1
- In the US, it is estimated that over 20 million individuals have gallbladder disease2
- Even though gallbladder disease has a low mortality rate of 0.6%, considering how common gallstones are, there were still an estimated 1,092 gallstone-related deaths in 20043 in the US
- However, gallstone-related deaths have steadily declined from more than 5000 deaths in 1950, falling more than 50% between 1979 and 2004, representing the greatest decrease for any digestive disease in the US3
