Kidney Stones May Increase Risk for Heart Disease and Stroke

A team led by researchers from Guangxi Medical University in China has found that patients with kidney stones were more likely to experience a coronary heart disease incident or stroke.

The National Kidney Foundation notes that kidney stones have been increasingly linked to a variety of health conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
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Yanqiong Liu, MM, of the department of clinical laboratory at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and colleagues set out to see if kidney stones influenced the risk of cardiovascular problems such as coronary heart disease and stroke. The authors analyzed data of more than 3.5 million patients and identified 50,000 who reported having kidney stones. These patients were found to be 19 percent more likely to have a coronary heart disease event—defined as a heart attack or arterial bypass surgery—and were 40 percent more likely to have a stroke, in comparison with patients who did not have kidney stones. The authors also found that women with kidney stones were at even higher risk of experiencing such events, particularly heart attacks.

That particular finding was “unexpected and difficult to explain,” according to Liu, who notes that further research is needed to confirm this association, and to assess the underlying mechanisms.

“People should be concerned about kidney stones,” said Liu, in a statement. “Evidence suggests an association between kidney stones and incident cardiovascular disease, even after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Liu Y, Li S, et al. Kidney Stones and Cardiovascular Risk: A Meta-analysis of Cohort Studies. American Journal of Kidney Diseases. 2014.