Kidney Stone Formation is Positively Associated with Conventional Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease in Japanese Men

Purpose: We investigated the association between kidney stones and coronary heart disease risk factors in Japanese men. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 13,418 Japanese men 30 to 69 years old who voluntarily underwent medical examination between April 1995 and March 2001. Participants were divided into controls, and past and current kidney stone formers based on ultrasound results and medical history. We evaluated conventional risk factors of coronary heart disease, including overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gout/hyperuricemia, dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease. Associations between coronary heart disease risk factors and kidney stones were investigated. Results: Of the 13,418 participants 404 current kidney stone formers (3.0%) had kidney stones on ultrasound and 1,231 past kidney stone formers (9.2%) had a history of kidney stones but no kidney stones on medical examination. Body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and serum uric acid were significantly higher in past and current kidney stone formers than in controls. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the multivariate adjusted OR for overweight/obesity, hypertension, gout/hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease significantly increased in the order corresponding to controls, and past and current kidney stone formers. Conclusions: Kidney stone formers, even past stone formers, are likely to have accumulated risk factors for coronary heart disease. They could be preferentially targeted for coronary heart disease prevention.