5-F risk factors for cholelithiasis (mnemonic)
The 5-F rule refers to risk factors for the development of cholelithiasis in the event of upper abdominal pain:
- fair: more prevalent in the Caucasian population 1
- fat: BMI >30
- female
- fertile: one or more children
-
forty: age ≥40
- cholelithiasis can occur in young patients with a positive family history; in such cases, the 'familial' factor can substitute for the 'forty' factor 2