Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Kidney Disease, Kidney Stones, Mayo Clinic / 30.03.2015
Kidney Stone Risk Affected By Age and Sex
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Majuran Perinpam, BsC
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minn
MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study?
Response: The four key urinary factors: Calcium, magnesium, oxalate and uric acid are all implicated in kidney stone formation. Age and sex are known to influence kidney stone risk and type (1). However the effects of demographics on excretion of the four key urinary factors are not clear. Since diet alters urinary excretions of the four factors, adjusting for this is important. During metabolic evaluation of kidney stone patients, these urinary factors are often measured in 24-hour urine samples. However, often a single adult reference range is used and the effect of demographics is rarely taken into account during the interpretation of results.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings?
Response: From a cohort of 709 healthy individuals we found a substantial influence of age and sex on the excretion of urinary calcium. Adjusted models showed that urinary calcium, magnesium, oxalate and uric acid were all less in females, possibly explaining why kidney stones are more dominant in males (1). Also a positive association of urinary uric acid excretion with Cystatin C eGFR, but not eGFR calculated from creatinine, suggests cystatin C to possibly being involved in inflammation and hyperuricemia. But further studies are needed to investigate this.
(more…)