Kidney Health

What You Need to Know About Kidney Stones

Kidney stone disease (nephrolithiasis, kidney stones or urinary lithiasis) is a common disorder affecting almost 10 percent of the U.S. population. Although many people spontaneously pass their stones without intervention, prompt diagnosis as well as therapy, when needed, are important in preventing possible complications such as infection, bleeding, unrelenting pain or urinary obstruction, which is damage to the kidneys due to the blockage of urinary drainage.

Who Gets Kidney Stones?
Males are three times more likely to get kidney stones than women. Stone formation can occur at any age but is most common between 20 and 50 years of age. If you have one kidney stone, you are 50 percent more likely to have another stone over the next 10 years. Surprisingly, this risk increases to over 75 percent as time passes. The prevalence of kidney stone disease is thought to be higher in certain geographical areas including desert, tropical zones and mountain climates. Currently, it is unclear why these areas have populations with a greater frequency of stone formation. In the U.S., the so-called stone belt includes a large portion of the southeastern U.S. as well as portions of the western U.S.

Types of Kidney Stones
More than 70 percent of kidney stones have some type of calcium component. These include calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate, alone or in combination. Non-calcium kidney stones occur much less frequently. These may be comprised of struvite, uric acid, cystine or unknown compounds.

How Do Stones Occur?
To form a stone, a crystal has to form within the urine. This solid crystal formation is affected by temperature, the pH of the urine and the amount of certain substances in the urine. Although in some cases how a stone was formed is understood, for many people it is unclear. Examples of well-understood cases include cystine stones that are due to a genetic error; calcium stones caused by a high level of calcium in the bloodstream from primary hyperparathyroidism; and uric acid stones that are associated with gout.

Common Risk Factors
1) Dietary excesses including too much calcium intake.
2) Medications such as antacids, protein supplements, indinavir (for HIV), acetazolamide, triamterene, thiazides (diuretics) and vitamins C and D.
3) Environmental factors such as dehydration.

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