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. 2006 Winter;8(1):44.

Diabetes Mellitus and Kidney Stone Formation

Dean G Assimos 1
PMCID: PMC1471772  PMID: 16985563

Kidney stone formation is a multifactorial process that is associated with other disease processes. Insulin resistance plays a key role in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and it has been linked to uric acid stone formation.1,2 Insulin resistance might result in a deficit in ammonium production in the kidney, which lowers urinary pH, thus generating a favorable milieu for uric acid stone formation.

Diabetes Mellitus and the Risk of Nephrolithiasis

Taylor EN, Stampfer MJ, Curhan GC.

Kidney Int. 2005;68:1230-1235

Taylor and colleagues searched for a prospective association between DM and kidney stone formation by conducting a cross-sectional study of 3 large cohorts: Nurses’ Health Study I (older women), Nurses’ Health Study II (younger women), and the Health Professional Follow-up Study (men). At baseline, the multivariate relative risk of stone prevalence in those with DM was significant for all 3 cohorts. The prospective development of an incident kidney stone event was significantly greater in both female cohorts with DM but not in the male group. In addition, the multivariate risk of incident DM was significant in subjects with a history of kidney stones for all 3 cohorts.

These findings again demonstrate that stone formation might be linked to common systemic diseases. Similar associations have been previously demonstrated with hypertension.3,4

References

  • 1.Pak CY, Sakhaee K, Moe Q, et al. Biochemical profile of stone-forming patients with diabetes mellitus. Urology. 2003;61:523–527. doi: 10.1016/s0090-4295(02)02421-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Abate N, Chandalia M, Cabo-Chan AV, Jr, et al. The metabolic syndrome and uric acid nephrolithiasis: novel features of renal manifestation of insulin resistance. Kidney Int. 2004;65:386–392. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1755.2004.00386.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Strazzullo P, Barba G, Vuotto P, et al. Past history of nephrolithiasis and incidence of hypertension in men: a reappraisal based on the results of the Olivetti prospective heart study. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2001;16:2232–2235. doi: 10.1093/ndt/16.11.2232. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Borghi L, Meschi T, Guerra A, et al. Essential arterial hypertension and stone disease. Kidney Int. 1999;55:2397–2406. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-1755.1999.00483.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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