Obesity increases the risk of kidney stone disease, according to recent research by scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. For the study, Brian R. Matlaga, MD, and colleagues studied 95,958 patients (57.1 percent female and 42.9 percent male).

Approximately 2.6 percent of non-obese participants  those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 29 or less  were diagnosed with a kidney stone during the evaluation period (2002-2006). By comparison, 4.9 percent of obese patients (those with BMIs of 30 or greater) were diagnosed with a kidney stone during the same period.

Obese females were as much as 3.18 times more likely than non-obese females to suffer from kidney stone disease, and obese males were as much as 2.54 times as likely to suffer from kidney stone disease.

The authors commented on the results in a recent report in the Journal of Urology: "What the present work uniquely adds to our understanding of the relationship between obesity and kidney stone disease is the subcategorization of a large cohort with extreme, or morbid, obesity. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of kidney stone formation. Dietary modification and weight loss should be encouraged in the obese population for a multitude of reasons but also to reduce stone risk."

(Source: renalandurologynews.com)

Labels: health, obesity

Posted By: Aspen Education Group