Metabolic syndrome and kidney stone risk

People with metabolic syndrome are at a higher risk for developing kidney stones. 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. These risk factors were associated with kidney stone disease, but no published large-scale study examined the association between metabolic syndrome and history of kidney stones. To investigate, researchers in America used data from a government study of 14,870 Americans aged 20 years and older. Of these, just under five per cent reported a history of kidney stones. The prevalence rose as the number of metabolic syndrome traits climbed, ranging from three per cent among those with no traits, to 10 per cent among those with five traits. The odds of having kidney stones rose in tandem with the number of metabolic syndrome traits a person had. The findings indicate that 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. These results have several implications, one being that weight loss, which can resolve many components of metabolic syndrome, may cut the associated risk of kidney stones as well. Also, people who have kidney stones, but appear to be otherwise healthy, should be screened for metabolic syndrome.