Kidney Stone Incidence Rising Steadily

The incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic kidney stones increased significantly between 1984 and 2012, results of a new study showed. The authors of the study suggested that this rise may be attributable to increased detection of kidney stones via computed tomography. 

For their study, the researchers assessed 3224 adult kidney stone formers in Olmstead County, MN, from January 1, 1984, to December 31, 2012. Participants were categorized by age, sex, stone composition, and imaging modality.

The researchers estimated the incidence of kidney stones per 100,000 person-years and evaluated factors associated with changes in the incidence rate over time using Poisson regression models.

Ultimately, the researchers identified 3224 confirmed symptomatic kidney stone formers, 606 suspected symptomatic stone formers, and 617 incidental asymptomatic stone formers. They found that, from 1984 to 2012, the incidence of confirmed symptomatic kidney stones had risen from 145 to 299 per 100,000 person-years in men and from 51 to 217 per 100,000 person-years in women.

Overall, these trends indicated that the incidence of asymptomatic kidney stones had increased, but that the incidence of suspected symptomatic kidney stones had not. The researchers observed increases in the incidence of confirmed symptomatic kidney stones with documented spontaneous passage and stones with unknown composition vs stones with known composition.

In addition, there was a significant rise in the utilization of computed tomography for confirmed symptomatic small stones (3 mm or less) vs larger stones over this time period (more than 3 mm; 1.8% in 1984 vs 77% in 2012).

“The incidence of both symptomatic and asymptomatic kidney stones has increased dramatically,” the researchers concluded. “The increased utilization of computed tomography during this period may have improved stone detection and contributed to the increased kidney stone incidence.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Kittanamongkolchai W, Vaughan LE, Enders FT, et al. The changing incidence and presentation of urinary stones over 3 decades [Published online February 6, 2018]. Mayo Clin Proc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.11.018.