Night shift workers undergo increased risk of kidney stone events: Study
A new study published in the journal of Mayo Clinic Proceedings showed that kidney stones are 15% to 22% more common in shift workers, with night shift workers having the highest risk.
A developing employment trend in contemporary culture, shift work interferes with circadian rhythms and modifies a number of physiological and behavioral processes. According to new research, these disturbances may raise the risk of kidney stones by causing metabolic and renal dysfunctions. This connection may be mediated by lifestyle characteristics that frequently accompany shift employment, like erratic sleep patterns, dehydration, nutritional imbalances, and decreased physical activity.
Developing focused preventative interventions requires an understanding of how these variables affect kidney stone etiology in shift workers. Using data from the UK Biobank, this study thoroughly examined the relationships between shift work, its kind, frequency, and length, as well as the mediating role that lifestyle plays in the relationship between shift work and kidney stone incidence.
This study included 226,459 UK Biobank individuals who were recruited between December 19, 2006, and October 1, 2010, and who were followed up with until May 1, 2023. The employment status of participants, including shift work, shift type, shift frequency, and years of shift work, were inquired about during the baseline study. Lifestyle factors included body mass index, hydration consumption, sleep duration, sedentary time, dietary features, physical activity, and smoking status. The relationship between shift employment and kidney stone occurrences was examined using Cox proportional hazards regression models, and the mediating effects of lifestyle choices were investigated using mediation analyses.
In 2893 patients, a kidney stone formed after a median follow-up of 13.7 years. Shift workers were more likely to experience kidney stone occurrences in the fully adjusted models (hazard ratio, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.26).
Younger individuals (less than 50 years old) and employees who never or infrequently performed hard manual labor showed stronger connections. Potential mediators were found to include body mass index, hydration consumption, smoking, sleep length, and sedentary time.
Overall, the risk of kidney stone occurrences was positively correlated with shift employment in this study, and the correlations were partially mediated by lifestyle choices. These results highlight the importance of encouraging healthy lifestyles among shift workers and imply that working shifts should be regarded as a risk factor for kidney stones.
Source:
He, M., Dou, X., Su, Y., Zhang, Z., Lin, H., & Yang, Y. (2025). Lifestyle factors in the association of shift work with kidney stone events. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Mayo Clinic, 100(10), 1731–1744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2025.03.032
