Older adults with kidney stones at higher risk for fractures: Study

USA: Older people with kidney or ureteral stones are at increased risk of fracture or osteoporosis, according to a recent study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

The findings call for a wider use of BMD screening in people with kidney stone disease, including middle‐aged and older men. 

Calyani Ganesan, Division of Nephrology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, and colleagues aimed to uncover the possible link between kidney stone disease and osteoporosis or fractures. 

 For the purpose, the researchers performed a retrospective cohort study, in which they determined the prevalence of osteoporosis and fractures and rate of bone mineral density screening by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) among patients with kidney stone disease. 

A total of 531,431 patients with kidney stone disease were identified from Veterans Health Administration between 2007 and 2015. After examining the patients, the researchers found that: 

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"We hope this work raises awareness regarding the possibility of reduced bone strength in patients with kidney stones. In our future work, we hope to identify which patients with kidney stones are at higher risk for osteoporosis or fracture to help guide bone density screening efforts by clinicians in this population," Ganesan said in a statement.

"Our findings provide support for wider use of bone mineral density screening in patients with kidney stone disease, including middle‐aged and older men, a group less well recognized as at risk for osteoporosis or fractures," wrote the authors.

The study titled, "Osteoporosis, Fractures, and Bone Mineral Density Screening in Veterans With Kidney Stone Disease," is published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

DOI: https://asbmr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbmr.4260