NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes may also have higher odds of developing kidney stones, a U.S. survey suggests.
Using data from a government study of nearly 15,000 Americans age 20 and older, researchers found that the odds of having kidney stones climbed in tandem with the number of metabolic syndrome traits a person had.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and stroke -- including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, high triglyceride levels and elevated blood sugar.
In the new study, reported in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, researchers found that the more components of metabolic syndrome a person had, the greater the risk of having had kidney stones.
"Metabolic syndrome is associated with kidney stone disease, and this association suggests that kidney stone disease should be regarded as a systemic disease representing the interaction of multiple risk factors," write Dr. Bradford West, from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and his colleagues.
Of the 14,870 Americans in the survey, just under 5 percent reported a history of kidney stones.
The prevalence rose as the number of metabolic syndrome traits climbed, ranging from 3 percent among those with no traits, to 10 percent among those with five traits.
The findings have several implications, according to West and his colleagues -- one being that weight loss, which can resolve many components of metabolic syndrome, may cut the associated risk of kidney stones as well.
They say the results also suggest that people who have kidney stones, but appear to be otherwise healthy, should be screened for metabolic syndrome.
SOURCE: American Journal of Kidney Diseases, May 2008.
